Reploid Half
by Macross-Green
Summary: When a young man's life is torn apart by a Maverick, he finds another chance as something between Human and Reploid. Begins during and after MMX3. Will be continued soon!
1. Default Chapter

Reploid Half

by MacrossGreen

Summary: When a young human's life is nearly destroyed by the third Maverick outbreak, he is given a new chance thanks to reploid technologies. What happens when another uprising occurs?

Author's Note: This is my first full Mega Man X-style fic ever, despite my 'The Making of X'. It'll take place beginning at X3, and during X4, and don't expect it to get much higher than X5 (since I've never really had the chance to play anything after that one). Anything that goes beyond those games will likely be made up or take only elements from the other games that come after it (like Command Mission). Reviews are appreciated, Flames are less useful. I'll warn you now that when the main character isn't involved, I'm going to be using third-person perspective. When the main character is in use, the story will be in first person.

---

It was so damned bright out. The sun was shining down rather bright onto the city. It had been a wonderful day so far, having come to the city in order to meet up with his friends on a non-schoolday. I was heading into the city to meet up with my friends at an arcade, to try my hand there at playing a few of the newer games that had come out recently. Damned city-trax, I thought to myself as we stopped again. It always took so long to get into the city from the suburbs thanks to the amount of people who used the main line train.

I looked about the train car and smiled a little bit as I saw a couple of reploids hanging out in the back of the car. They were the garden-variety humanoid reploids, fortunately- the kind that didn't go maverick very often. Judging from their gear, it was obvious that they were civilians, and I sighed softly. I'd never met a Maverick Hunter before, though I'd seen reports and TV specials on certain ones. Like Mega Man X, and Zero. They were legendary hunters, though Reploids in general had been around for only a short amount of time. I'd even settle with meeting a C-class hunter sometime, I thought, even as I shrugged a little bit. Better not to worry about it, of course.

"Arik!" I heard from behind me. My name came from a heavily accented voice, and as I turned, my mind raced through the possible people that that particular voice could belong to. The voice had been accented by a japanese dialect, and I smiled a little as I came across a match even as I saw the girl whose voice had called out to me. It was Ayumi, a reploid from Japan that had left that country just before the infamous virus scare had caused some of the best Maverick Hunters a few years back to go maverick. She had dark brown hair that was very nearly the color of chocolate that swept down to her knees- it wasn't much surprise to me when I peeked over her shoulder to see at least one of the reploids at the end of the train checking her out.

"Hi Ayumi. What are you up to today?" I asked her, and she just came up to me and smiled as she took hold of a rung beside me. She was about my height, a little taller even, and we both swayed a little as the train started moving along again. She looked out the window to her left for a moment before looking back to me, still smiling. What was on that reploid mind of hers, I wondered, as I waited for her answer.

"Not a whole lot. Going shopping with some friends. What about you?" she asked me. She went to the same school I did, actually, learning english as a second language. She was almost finished with her english course as well. Some wondered why she didn't just purchase a language program and install it, but she'd told me something when I had been asked to help her with her english from time to time. She said that she wanted to actually learn it, not just have it programmed in like her core functions. Something about making the language easier to understand and remember, too.

"Headin' to the arcade in town, actually. The guys and I are going to play a few games, and then I better get back home to study, study, study." I replied, watching her brown-tinted optics. They were really eyes, of course... Reploids these days were much more advanced than the basic ones that had been built only a few years ago, and she'd managed to obtain newer and newer upgrades for herself to let herself blend in as a human. I'd seen her original pair of eyes, and to compare them with the ones she had now would be an injustice to her. The original eyes she had had were nice, but these looked much more human-like.

"Oh? Anything I can help you with, maybe?" she asked me, referring to the studying that I needed to be doing. I wasn't that great a student- got mostly C's and B's, with an A in there somewhere once in a while. I could do the basics of math, of course, very easily, and I was good at history and english. But science was something that was almost like a foreign language to me. And that was, unfortunately, what I needed to study the most at this point. "What about science?" she asked, and I winced as she hit the nail on the head. _Damn!_ I heard her giggle as I opened my eyes and I shook my head slowly.

"You know me too well, Ayumi." I told her, sighing softly. Of course she'd remember my grades from last semester in science, because she'd helped me then, too. Not to mention that memory of hers was literally picture perfect. Reploids had it so easy when it came to schooling! "Yeah, science is exactly what I need to study. First though, I gotta... hm?" I trailed off, seeing her look up at the ceiling of the train car. "What's up?" I asked... no pun intended, of course. She looked kind of serious as she seemed to be looking beyond the ceiling, from the way that she glared at the metal covering above. I looked up as well, but of course I couldn't see or hear anything other than the hum of the magnetics beneath the train that drove us along the magnetic rail that was taking everyone into town.

"I hear something flying above. A reploid, I think?" Ayumi said, and then she shrugged as she looked back to me. I wasn't sure what to think about that... until I remembered that it was against the law for reploids to fly over populated areas low enough for others to be affected by their speed. Some were easily able to fly at speeds well over the speed of sound while in the air, after all, and flying low over populated areas could cause glass to break and even destroy unfortified structures by accident. I shrugged a little... and then I blinked as even I could feel something coursing beneath my feet. The magnetic hum was different... almost a shrill whistle, really. The car itself almost seemed to be lifting from the track, and I felt a hand on my shoulder as I could feel myself lift somewhat from the floor of the car.

"What the hell is this?" I asked Ayumi, who just looked at me and shook her head slowly. She didn't know, but obviously she could tell more than I could. There was a cry from someone that was sitting near the window, and everyone turned to gaze out of it. There was a large reploid, an animal-like one..._ a beetle, maybe_? Sure looked like one. It was charging along near the train, energy coursing along its body as it flew. The black 'void' along its body, for it didn't seem to have anything but electricity coursing in it, began to grow as it sped even faster past the train, leaving behind a wake of smoke as its body forced its way through the air. The air rippled in front of the windows... and then I blinked in surprise as the rippling effect grew larger and larger. I couldn't help it as I saw the rippling seem to get closer and closer... "Oh, shit!"

"Everyone, get down!" Someone from the back yelled, and I couldn't help it as I felt a pair of arms around my waist. Cold arms, no less, and I found Ayumi clutching me closer to her. Quite to my surprise, no less. "Hey... Ayumi?" I asked, and then the entire car began to go back and forth as the rippling air consumed the car itself. The rocking got worse and worse as the train began to make some sort of shrill whistling sound from underneath the cars. She looked at me as she managed to keep her feet on the floor... but I was nearly forced to my knees as the rocking got even more violent.

"I think the train's about to go off the rail..." she told me, and I felt her arms move about my waist tighter than before. Strangely enough, though I felt a twinge of pain, it didn't feel that bad... and then there was a scream from ahead, near the front of the train, as the train finally jolted, the whistling stopped now. The weight of the entire car shifted and then the people on the right side of the train began to move to the left side quickly as the weight of the entire car began to drop everyone to the right anyway. Ayumi and I were standing still though- she must have some sort of magnetic connectors on her feet that allow her to stay on the floor, I thought somewhere among the panic that was filling my head.

And then it happened. There was a scraping sound of metal on metal as the magnetic lifters of the car cut out and then the car slammed onto the magnetic rail. The weight had already shifted too much, however, and there was a lifting along the left side that dropped the right side of the car down onto the rail... and then off again. I couldn't help but yell in surprise as I felt Ayumi's connectors cut off as well, and we slammed down onto the people on the right side of the car. All around us were human and reploid bodies, each and everyone of them panicking and screaming. I was no exception, of course, and I couldn't help but wonder just why that had happened.

And then I was lifted away from Ayumi's grasp as the car fell off the rail itself, still moving forward and down as a result of gravity. The car's automatic safety protocols engaged, air bags and foam rubber exploding from the sides to cover the windows and the sides of the car to provide a safer landing surface. That, however, was the least of my worries as we fell down towards the buildings beneath the rail system.

---

It was 8:00 at night when the news came on that day, and there was very little good to be said for the area that this took place in. A new Maverick outbreak had taken place in Dopplertown, and eight Reploids that had been following the Doppler reploid, instrumental in creating the Doppler Anti-Virus program, had become infected with the Sigma Virus itself- the very virus that Doppler had been attempting to create a vaccine for. Eight areas around Doppler town had been taken over, and there had been widespread destruction as a result of a reploid known as Gravity Beetle. That Maverick had wound up destroying an entire city, as well as the transportation systems that had led from the city to the different locations that the mavericks had taken over. Over 30,000 humans were dead, a little less than twice that number injured, and almost 2,000 in critical condition. Many of the humans that had died were in buildings or in the magnetic trains that had been derailed by Gravity Beetle's attack.

Over 200 Reploids had been destroyed as well as a result of the attack, and well more than twice that number were badly injured from the attacks. Many had died trying to save human lives that had been trapped in rubble or were otherwise very likely to die as a result of impact. But the worst news of all was that many of the Maverick Hunter units were destroyed from within, by a hunter that had been infected by the Sigma Virus inserting a line of code into the recharge capsules forcing the occupants to remain inside them unless the correct password was given, or else the code would order an overload charge into the Maverick Hunter's microfusion power plant.

Only a few Hunters remain, the reporter assured. Commander Mega Man X, the original reploid himself, and Commander Zero had cleared their base of the mavericks and their mechaniloid subordinates. Now, under the direction of the injured Doctor Cain, both Maverick Hunters are already on their way to deal with the recent outbreak. An industrial area had been taken over by a Reploid in a Robot Ride Armor suit, and has since been having the factory produce new Mechaniloids. A pair of reploids, respectively reported to be named Bit and Byte, who were once Doppler's aides have gone missing.

The hospitals are completely packed tonight, as are the reploid repair shops and facilities that are not under Doppler's control, the reporter continued. More than half a dozen hospitals outside the city had become overnight hotels for many of the victims of Gravity Beetle's attack, and at least a dozen repair shops were being kept under strict guard by the remaining Maverick Hunters that remain in active service. But, the reporter added, this may well only be the beginning.

---

"What have we here, hm?" a doctor asked as an ambulance came up to the doors of the nearly over-packed hospital. There was a momentary exchange of data between the reploid that had been driving and the doctor, and the response was immediate. "Okay, get the three in critical condition in here quick. Take the rest to a clinic to check 'em out." he told them. The driver nodded, and the EMTs immediately opened the back doors of the ambulance. Three humans were taken out on stretchers quickly, one young man and two older women.

The young man seemed to be in the worst shape of the three, the doctor saw. The information provided by the driver had told him that much of the young man's body had been badly hurt. His arms were practically crushed from the tops of the shoulders on down. His right hand was salvageable, but getting the nerves to be repaired... that was very difficult. The legs could be saved as well, but both were extremely traumatized. He'd lost a lot of blood, but the bloodflow had at least been stopped. His head seemed to be fine, at least, and he was living mostly off of a respirator. There was no word on how badly damaged his lungs actually were yet, as that ambulance wasn't equipped with the most up to date scanning systems yet.

"Get them into the emergency rooms, now! Prepare the surgery room for the boy here. Get Lifesaver in here, we'll need his expertise on this one." he told his communication channels, and there was an affirmative tapping sound on each end as his orders were sent out. The boy had apparantly been saved by a reploid called Ayumi, from the report. The picture taken of her at the time had placed her into a category four out of five in terms of attractiveness, even among reploids. She'd been rather damaged as well, and had taken much of the impact off of the human boy at her own expense.

The doctor sighed and shook his head. There wasn't much that any hospital could do for the boy other than amputating the arms and reinforcing the bones in his legs with some sort of supporting mechanisms. Unfortunately, such procedure was exceptionally expensive for anyone, including the richest of all humans that still lived in this day and age. The few who could were those who were in the governments of the world or those who held patents over certain technological advancements. This kid definitely didn't fit that category.

The doctor immediately went back to the front desk of the emergency center and sat down, setting his arm into the arm rest so that he immediately dialed up the internet. He closed his eyes and began to access the relevant files on the different people that had just come in. The older women were covered by their medical aid as provided by the government, but the boy... _Let's see_, he thought, pulling up his file. Name, Arik Silwat. Age 18, still in high school. Hazel eyes, dark green hair that was kept cut short. After a moment looking into the young man's file, there was a nagging message in the back of his mind. Accessing the file after making sure it was clean, it was more information on the boy's vital conditions.

Not good, it had been decided. Though he was stabilized, chances of his returning to a normal life were at about ten percent, if not less than that. His left lung had been punctured in several areas and had begun filling up with blood almost as soon as he was taken off of the ambulance. He had a concussion, and who knew what kind of mental damage might have occured to a human from a wreck such as that one. His family had already been notified, but there was no answer from them yet. It was quite likely that they'd been killed in the attack... the doctor cross-referenced his parents. Both worked at a Reploid repair shop in the downtown area of the city.

There had been no reported human survivors from the middle of the city. Perhaps it was because the city had been laid to waste, all the buildings had imploded due to that Maverick's special weapon system over gravity. There was nothing left other than a large crater and wasteland as a result of Gravity Beetle's attack. With a sigh, the reploid doctor opened his eyes as he let his sensors return to normal. His optics adjusted almost immediately to the level of light that was in the emergency center as he realized that he'd read several reports much like that one so far today, and had come up with many instances of coming up with them himself, too.

This was the fifty-third one today, he thought to himself, though by far this kid was the worst off physically. The others could at least survive with prosthetics, but this one would need almost an entirely new body. His heart had taken no damage save for trauma, his mind was at least stable, and his right lung was in decent repair. _Other than that_, he thought to himself, _he's worse off than that ancient human daredevil_. What did he do... oh yes, jumped off of high places on a motorcycle and attempted to land. It worked... sometimes. The name escaped him, though. _Damned defragmentation utilities_.

The doctor turned to one of the aides as he lifted his arm from the armrest and shook his head slowly. "Give the boy that was just brought in treatment R-01Beta. I'll be making the reports and such for the remainder of the night, okay?" he told the aide, and the nurse nodded before going off to the treatment room where the boy had been admitted into. _This was going to cost more than the proverbial 'arm and a leg'_, the doctor thought, _but it was the only real way that the boy would have a life after his life was saved_. The only problem was how the boy was possibly going to be able to pay for it, even with help from his family's remaining funds. Certainly, his parents must have had their own bank accounts and saved money, but it was very doubtful that they had enough in the bank to pay for the treatment that their son was about to receive.

_Ah well_, he told himself. _Best figured out when the kid could make his own decisions again- after the operation_. With that, he set his arm in the armrest again and resigned his systems to getting the paperwork done on getting the parts that were going to be required for the patient.

---

One week later

---

"Alright, so how's our patient this today, hm?" the doctor asked the comatose man that lay on the bed. Strangely enough, there was only a slight groan to answer him, and the reploid chuckled softly as he hooked himself into the machine that was keeping track of Arik's progress. Already, he'd had some new parts connected to his body. He had new arms attached already, and they'd already been tested with the new system that had been 'installed' for him. The body was about the same size as his old one, with a few inches added on in height of course. He was hidden beneath a blanket, more for comfort concerns for any who bothered looking in than to provide heat for the boy who was still under heavy sedation.

"Doctor?" came a voice from beyond the room, and the doctor looked over to the entrance to see a female reploid. It took only a second to reference the female's visage with ones that he knew already and determined that she was one he didn't know, but had seen before. He nodded to her and then looked to the boy that was lying on the bed. Only a very small part of his body was left as a human's, as so much of his body had been unrecoverable. Wait... hadn't Arik been saved by a female reploid, according to his report? Yes, he had been, and it took a second longer to obtain that information. Well, she could be allowed in.

"Yes? Oh, you were the one they found with this boy after the train crash." the doctor replied, and she nodded. He smiled a little and motioned for her to come on into the room. "How can I help you today?" he asked her, and she just smiled a little as she walked towards the bed. She'd heard that her friend had been taken to an intensive care unit after the accident, but she hadn't learned just what had fully happened to him. It was that curosity that brought her here today... That and concern, of course.

"Um... is Arik okay? Why hasn't he been released yet?" Ayumi asked, and the doctor shook his head slowly. She looked over to Arik's face, about the only portion of his body peeking out from the blanket that was covering him, and smiled a little bit. There were several tubes that happened to be snaking towards the table from a generator, and she blinked in surprise. Strangely enough, her optics seemed to be telling her something that she knew couldn't be the case, if her friend was simply being kept here to be watched over right now.

"Arik here took a nasty spill, as well you know, miss. He was badly hurt and... are you a friend of his?" he asked the girl, and Ayumi nodded slightly as she stepped closer to the bed that her friend was lying upon. She looked up to the doctor, who waited for a moment- he would need some sort of information from her as to how she knew him, she figured, and then shrugged slightly.

"He's a classmate of mine. We were on the train going into town when that Reploid attacked the city. I had to go in for repairs, so I lost track of where Arik was sent to. I'm glad I managed to find him, but I was told to wait 'til today to actually come in and visit." She replied, to which the doctor nodded again. So, this was the girl he had spoken to last weak, shortly after they had begun working upon Arik's new body. She looked to the cables... power cables, obviously, since they were hooked to a generator. "Power cables? Was he really so badly hurt that he needed prosthetics?" she asked, and the doctor looked kinda sheepish as he nodded.

"Well... To tell the truth, miss, we had to replace almost his entire body. We did try to keep the replacements as close in specifications as his original body was, of course, and on the outside the only change is that he's a few inches taller now. The rest is basically the same, but he'll never be human again. There was simply too much damage for him to live at all well otherwise. I'm sorry." the doctor replied, and the shocked look on the female reploid's face was not at all surprising. He'd had to do this sort of a recovery for humans on occassion before, but only very rarely. "The success of such an operation requires full mental cooperation on the part of the human, I should tell you. If he mentally rejects his new body and the signals that the link requires, he may never fully have control over his new body, despite the fact that he'll have to abide by the rules of sleep charging and such."

Ayumi nodded slightly. As shocking as this was to her, she couldn't help but to wonder how Arik would react to a new body. A week ago, she'd been just a friend of his, a schoolmate. Now? He didn't even have his parents anymore, according to the information she'd had to take for him. His other friends, the ones who lived in the city and had been there to meet him that day? They too had been killed by Gravity Beetle. Damn that Maverick! She'd have to get a new job, too. Not to mention a new place to live. So did Arik. The area surrounding the city that had been destroyed had taken heavy damage, after all. "Well, I don't know what I can do to help, but I'll do anything I can to help out, Doctor."

The doctor nodded and smiled a little. He'd just received a message from the reploid who had managed to tie the new body's systems in with Arik's nervous system that he was going to come by for the last calibration tests and alignment of all the central systems in the new body. "Well, maybe you could stick around... Lifesaver will be coming by to finish with the little tweaking of Arik's internal systems, and then I think we'll be ready to take him off of the medication and let him wake up." he said, and Ayumi nodded slightly.

_I won't leave here until he's awake_, she told herself mentally as she smiled a little. "Is there someplace that I can wait at while you and this Lifesaver wake him up, doctor?" she asked, and the doctor smiled slightly before giving her another nod. _Much more of that, and he'd probably need his neck adjusted to keep his head on straight_, she thought, and the reploid very nearly giggled as she hid her wide smile beneath her hand. The doctor saw this and shrugged slightly before telling her that she could wait over on a chair in the room or outside of it if she wanted. With that information in mind, Ayumi walked over to the chair inside the room, against the wall, and had herself a seat.

---

It was about ten minutes later when the reploid showed up. His entire body was dressed in white, and he wore a helmet that had a microscanner and magnifier on it. Obviously, he had worked as a field medic at one time, but was at this time working here as a professor for the reploids and humans working at the hospital. The two doctors talked for a moment, and Ayumi watched on as the two began their work on her friend. They turned him over onto his chest, and she couldn't help but wonder as she heard the soft thud of covered metal on the bed just how her friend would take this news when he would awake soon.

_I hope Arik remembers me_, she told herself, as she watched the two men open up a panel on her friend's back. Soon, their fingers were inside, and the white clothed reploid flipped the microscanner down over his eye and closed the other one as their work began. _I hope he remembers anything, actually. It'll be difficult enough to help him through this transition_, she thought, as she closed her eyes and just listened to the two working upon her friend.

Inside the inner workings of a reploid body, sensitive work was being done. The sedatives were till in use to keep their patient from feeling any pain from the work being done. And if they weren't very careful with what they were doing, the connection that had tenatively been made between the synaptic cortex and the patient's brain could very well be severed. The changes that had been made to his motor skills had at least been mostly realized, though the true test would need to wait until after the kid had woken up.

_Connection established_, Lifesaver thought to himself. Younger humans always were able to adapt more quickly and easily to these kinds of changes, and this particular human seemed to be adapting rather quickly to the new systems. Who knew that he would take to the changes so well, unconsciously? _Integrating systems with cerebral and nervous systems_. _Very careful, now_, he told himself, even as his tools did their job. The nanites that were creating the connection were breaking down the genetic encryption of Arik's DNA quickly, and would hopefully soon come up with a match for the patient's nervous system that would allow him to control all of his new bodily functions. He helped with the matching process by simply integrating his own mental processes with the nanites, increasing the processing speed.

There was only so much that a human's genetic sequence could stand with the tampering of it, thanks to science and the inherent instability of their DNA sequence compared to a reploid's systems. But it didn't take long for a sequence match to be made-_ a 93.284 percent match_, no less, he told himself. Not bad... it wouldn't get much better than that, though, not until the kid had a chance to get used to the systems himself, anyway. No human ever did have a synchronization ratio that was much higher than about 97.625, after all. The reploid control 'brain' would take care of the rest, after all.

"There, that's as good as it's going to get for 'im before he wakes up and gets used to his new body." Lifesaver said, the microscanner flipping back into place on his helmet as he looked to the doctor. The doctor nodded, forced to agree with the more experienced reploid in these matters. "Let's go ahead and activate the body. Our patient will wake up shortly after that once he's off of life support and can feel his own body again." he said. _And, let's hope he feels everything as if it's his own body. It's all that could have been done for him, after all_, he told himself even as he closed the boy's back panel and made sure it was shut tight before looking to the doctor. "Jumpstart his systems and begin initial boot sequencing."

Ayumi watched on as they two doctors flipped Arik onto his back again and Lifesaver touched a small button in the middle of her friend's new chest. There was a visible shudder as the young man's body came to life, and then there was the flickering of his eyelids. _Like how a human would look like while dreaming_, Ayumi considered, as she smiled a little bit. That smile faded when she realized that there would be a lot for him to handle. His parents hadn't been found, and were presumed dead as a result of Gravity Beetle's attack on the city, along with so many others. He wasn't even completely himself anymore. And of his friends, only a small few could possibly still be alive.

_What a wake up call_.

---

It's been pretty dark for a while here. I couldn't really feel any actual heat, but then, there wasn't any real discomfort either. Where am I? There's nothing to see here. Wait... there's a light up ahead. Why's it so dim though? Am I really that far away from it? It was cold. And kinda wet, too. What the hell is this place? Am I dying? No. Not dying. My life hadn't flashed before my eyes yet. Dying was definitely overrated if I had to have my life flash before my eyes. Flash before my eyes? Ack!

I tried to wince and shield my eyes from the- what was that flash of light? Where did it come from? Shit, what was that? The light was a lot brighter now. Am I really dead now?

_System online_.

What the hell was that?

_Booting synaptic intialization_.

Say what? That sounded like what a computer system might come up with when attempting to even connect online or something. Am I hearing something other than myself? I know I wouldn't say that kinda thing... but I'm not just hearing it. I could almost feel it, too...

_Initialization complete. Synchronization with host commencing_.

Host? Synchronizing? Wait a sec...

_Wait a sec_...

What the hell is going on here?!

_What the hell is going on here?!_

_Synchronization complete._

---

Author's Note: Yeah, just to warn those of you who haven't kept up with my most recent fanfiction (because they aren't in this particular genre), I do have author's notes before and after the fic. I'll also respond to reviews in the next chapter, if I have any by then. What do you guys think? I know that I kept a few things out, like the details as to the 'train wreck' itself after hitting the ground, but I personally think that it would be a minor point compared to the fact that an entire city was wiped off the face of the Earth.

I expect to have more actual cameos later on with reploids from the games, maybe even an appearance by Dr. Cain. I think that X and Zero would be a little busy with the third Maverick outbreak to actually make an appearance yet, but I might find room for other reploids (such as ones from the Repliforce). Again, reviews are appreciated, and flames are less useful. I can't stop ya from makin' them, after all. Suggestions are also taken, but only through e-mail.

I do understand that this may come out as a 'Gary Stu'-style fic in the beginning. Please pardon the dust, since I will actually be working on making simply a new character in the series, and I don't want to make it seem like an author-insertion.


	2. Waking up

Chapter 2

Summary: Waking up can be hard to do sometimes, but what if you're not even in your own body when you do?

**Author's Note**: I started working on this shortly before posting the first chapter. I was somewhat glad that I did decide to do this story, because I liked how I managed to write the opening chapter. Thanks go out to the three who bothered to post reviews to this fic!

**Disclaimer**: Do I really gotta do this? Nope!

Tron Bonne: Aw, I got dragged back out from my series to do a disclaimer? sigh

MacGreen: Shut up and do it, or I'll keep having Trigger kick your ass. threatens her with copies of both Legends games

Tron Bonne: mutters I hate that author... Fine! He doesn't own any of Capcom's characters in this or any other fic that he's written, got it? Damnit all! I don't want to do this again. I quit being your muse! storms off

MacGreen: watches her go off Ya know, if I'd known it was that easy, I might've taken it easier on her in my old fics. Ah well. She'll get over it if she ever wants Trigger in the torture room again. whistles and lets ya read the fic now

---

_Boot sequence in progress. _

_Microfusion Generator online. _

_Body temperature at 98.5 degrees fahrenheit._

_System Operations at 45 percent._

_System integration sequence at 52 percent_

_Virus scanners online._

_Motor control at 60 percent._

_Voice synthesizer connected. Adapting to current vocal patterns._

_Boot finished, initializing synchronization._

---

Lifesaver smiled a little as he watched the internal control mind begin the boot up process for the young human's new body. It was nice to see that it was coming along nicely, without any major errors. The boy wouldn't be able to move for a while, even if synchronization was high enough to allow it. He would need to learn from his new 'voice' that was now implanted in his system. It was the voice of his own body, no less, one that would eventually come down to what humans might consider a third voice. He'd heard that humans had long ago believed that they could have two voices- one of the body, and one of the mind. This boy would now have another voice of the body, though this one was far more logical and could be proven to exist.

"We will need to input the boy's voice, so he can speak when he awakes soon. Are there any data files on his speech record?" the medical reploid asked, to which the doctor who had been working with him shook his head. Lifesaver mentally groaned- the creation of a voice data file for the synthesizer in the boy's new throat could take a very long time to create, otherwise, as nanites would work to decipher the codes of the boy's voice. He looked to the girl that had been sitting along the side of the room, as if noticing her for the first time, and he smiled a little bit. "I don't suppose you might have any voice samples that we could use, do you miss?" he asked Ayumi. The brown-haired girl looked thoughtful for a split second before standing and nodding slowly.

_Ah, a Reploid_! Lifesaver thought, and a smile became apparent on his face as he motioned her over to them. "Please, come over and provide the voice data, miss. It will be much better if he manages to wake up and hears nothing different about his own voice. Most patients are disturbed when they no longer have their own voice, after such a procedure." he told her, and the young-looking reploid (who is probably older than both of these reploids in reality) came over. She wondered just how she'd be able to put in the voice samples, and then Lifesaver opened up Arik's throat panel- once his body was completely online, it would be very difficult, not to mention painful to do this sort of thing ever again. He provided a cable that hooked directly into the middle of her friend's throat, and she saw the end that she could hook in as well.

Ayumi smiled softly, though she was a bit disturbed at the sight of her friend being casually opened up as he had been, and took the other end of the cable and hooked it in behind her ear. _Upload all voice files pertaining to Arik_, she told herself, and she felt herself shudder as a low level shutdown occurred to allow the transfer to take place. She could hear his voice going through her sensors, the sound exactly as she remembered it just last week. She'd replayed it time after time again since then, to make sure that the voice data hadn't been lost due to degradation... and to remind herself just what her friend sounded like. With another shudder, the uplink was finished, and her eyes opened again as she reached up to unhook the cable from behind her ear. Lifesaver undid the hook up with the cable on Arik's end, and he pushed the panel closed carefully. There was a click as it sealed back into place, and then Lifesaver nodded slightly.

A signal was sent from his own wireless uplink to the boy's body, and the nanites inside immediately complied. They sealed all the compartments on the reploid body, and then the nanites hooked directly into the skin and body itself, becoming interconnected in all areas of the body itself. A shudder slid through the young man that lay on the table as senses became activated in the body. Touch, sight, hearing, taste, and

"Cut the sedatives... He'll need to be able to feel in order to wake up, now." Lifesaver told the doctor, who complied quickly with the order by turning off the machine that provided him with the drugs necessary not only to keep him alive but to keep him from feeling pain as his body had been surgically cut into and dealt with. Few humans ever knew what they looked like while on the table that had seen them changed almost overnight into Reploids. The body had been first. The legs and arms had been dealt with. Even the human's lungs were done away with, exchanged with more efficient capacitors that allowed more even breathing and filters that could keep even the worst pollution out.

His heart had to go as well, though that was in and of itself an easy process. There had been artificial heart technology for over two centuries, and adapting a human's heart to that of a microfusion generator had been simple. A reploid's reactor functioned much like a heart, after all, and it was simple enough to emulate a human's heart in turn. A new stomach had been 'installed', able to process the basic molecules in a human's everyday food supply easily. Fats, sugars, carbohydrates- they were all used to provide fuel for the microfusion reactor and to enable the nanites to be recharged. The nervous system itself, that which sensed feeling from touch and pain, as well as pleasure, was created as a result of the nanites in the boy's new body, just under the skin and within the 'bloodstream' that allowed his energy and coolant fluids to flow along his system.

The nanites were interconnected, a network of senses that was easily comparable to a human's nervous system. It was an unusual network compared to what reploids often used. It was delicate- a severing of only a few nanites could easily knock out an entire section of the human's senses as a result. It wasn't as comprehensive as a normal reploid's system, but that was simply because of a lack of nanites. Once the reactor was online and completely stable, they'd be able to reinforce the nervous system with even more nanites.

The arms and legs had been the last to arrive. They'd been without any skin or nanites attached, unfortunately, and resembled a robot's features from almost a hundred years ago. It had taken time to fix those limbs to look more like what the originals had been, sculpted back down to the somewhat-thin arms and legs that the boy had had, though slightly elongated to fit the new body and his slightly newer look. The legs and arms had then been attached and diagnostics run upon them to make sure that everything was compatible. It wasn't like he required a buster or some sort of special abilties, after all, and that helped when determining that everything was running smoothly to the reploid control mind that had been installed along the base of the boy's spine.

That was what made everything work. The control mind connected along the boy's spine, not only strengthening it but providing additional mental power to allow full access by the human brain to the features of the body. No human's mind had been able to directly link with any machine without augmentation, after all. This boy was no exception, either. The control mind was in charge of the minor details that was most often dealt with by a human's subconscious, such as repairing small cuts and such, stopping bloodflow, etc. Even the subconscious human mind couldn't directly link with the system without synchronization, even after a connection was established through nanomachines. Through the reploid control mind, all the basic functions of the body was simulated and dealt with, without the need for a human or reploid to actually issue the order to deal with the problems at hand.

---

_Vocal processors engaged._

_Synthesizer online._

_Video feed online._

_Audio online._

_Sensory network calibration in progress..._

_Establishing Primary Link..._

---

It had been pleasantly warm for a while, and not too unbearably cold, either. The sensations had melded together to keep him comfortable, but a nagging feeling was making him feel more cold than warm. How had that happened? It wasn't as dark now, either, and that strange light had gone, too. "_What is going on here?_" Arik asked himself, trying to feel warmer. There was a sound now. A steady sound, one that began to provide warmth all over. It was a soothing sound that he hadn't missed before. He hadn't thought about sounds before now. _Is that my heart? It did sound like it. Strange though... why hadn't I heard it before now?_ The warmth comforted him, relaxation coursing through him. But then he felt even more.

Heavy. The darkness that had been around him seemed to be getting heavy, pressing against him on all sides as if to smother him. Breathing had become a little more difficult. _Wait, breathing?_ He didn't remember having to do that, either, a few minutes ago. That strange voice had actually gone on a little while ago... something about a boot sequence. Of course, he wasn't too sure what that meant, but right now he had to escape from this oppressive darkness. As Arik struggled, the darkness became a little lighter. Soon, there was enough light to see, and he could hear his own voice as he groaned slowly. The darkness slid away as he found himself spreading slowly, for some reason feeling as if he was expanding somehow.

And then there was light, outside light... light that he hadn't seen inside of him, but was now just outside of his sight. He groaned again, and he felt something kinda funny in his throat as he did so. _Weird_, he told himself, as his eyes slowly moved to open. His hands at his side he attempted to move, so he could rub his head- there was a pain there that would not allow him to not feel it. The brightness expanded as he attempted to sit up, but again his body refused to let him move any more than a few inches at a time, and never upwards at this point.

---

Ayumi smiled as she saw the fluttering of her friend's eyes as he seemed to try to open them. It seemed that whatever the two had done had actually done the job! She could tell that he was trying to move, despite the fact that the covers on his body hid most of his movements still. She came closer and pressed a hand on her friend's chest, lightly pressing a somewhat cold hand against where his microfusion reactor was to be found in the same place his heart would have been, and the steady power coursing through her friend's body was quite noticable. And warm, no less, which made her smile a little. The small powerplant didn't give off much heat, and no radiation, thanks to advances made in the last few years since Reploids had been constructed.

A groan could be heard, a vocal sound that changed in octaves for a second before settling on one that was eerily familiar to the young female reploid. The eyelids slid open as her friend attempted to see, and it was rather obvious that he was having some difficulty in doing so. His left arm moved, a strange sight as it barely lifted up from the side of the bed before falling to rest. The startled blink that the boy gave was something that the doctor and Lifesaver were genuinely surprised to see- a motor response that unusual had already been picked up by his system? _A wonderful thing... a human that can adapt so well. If only Reploids could be like that sometimes_, Lifesaver thought to himself even as he smiled slightly. This was his eighth patient, but only the third that had come out so well from the induced coma that he had been in.

The doctor was surprised at the way that the boy's systems took up defense against intrusion, programmed instructions setting up the firewalls and other defenses that were required these days- that nasty maverick virus could very easily take over a new reploid's mind before they could become fully activated, after all. The human was safe, though. No cyborgs had ever had to deal with a maverick virus, because that virus was design specifically to work on reploids and nothing else. He'd never seen a human adapt to his systems like this. In fact, though he'd done this surgery twice now, the first one had been a woman who had preferred death. She had been an elderly woman, and her request was granted by her family. This boy, though... didn't seem to have such restriction or wishes, yet.

And the three watched as the boy's eyes looked about slowly. He didn't seem to be too much worse for wear. Lifesaver knew that someone would have to speak up soon, so as to tell him what had happened not only to him, but to all of Dopplertown in general. His parents, too, was a topic that would have to come up as well. Finally, he took it on himself to spak to the boy, with a heavy generator. Ayumi glanced at Lifesaver and shook her head, which surprised the doctor but made him smile after a moment. If the two were friends, then that should help things significantly, he thought to himself, stepping back a little so the shorter reploid could come into the boy's line of sight. And the moment she did, the boy's eyes immediately locked onto her as if he managed to recognize the girl.

---

_Oh... My body aches..._ Arik thought to himself as his eyes opened. The light was very bright, but my eyes adjusted quickly as I attempted to move my left hand to shield my eyes. But there was no movement! The blink that I'd felt coming made itself known to all as I did so, eyes squinting now as I somehow managed to lift himself up somewhat with applied force in the back of his mind. Somewhere in my body, I felt a kind of click, and my body finally began to respond as his back lifted slowly from the bed that I had been resting on. _It is cold in here_, I decided, and was unable to stop a shiver that ran along my back, even though I couldn't move my arms at all yet. My eyes stopped on Ayumi- _is it really her? Am I just imagining things? She looks kind of different..._ I asked myself mentally. There was such a haze in my mind, so little I could actually think as a result. The pressure was rather constant, but it did seem to be lessening with each passing moment.

I opened my mouth to speak, but what came out was the sound of passing air. A cough escaped me as I found my throat to be completely dry, without any moisture. I heard some sort of movement, and then I felt a somewhat warm hand on my back. I couldn't move my head from side to side yet... is there something wrong with my neck? Maybe there's some sort of collar holding my neck in place. Finally, someone began to talk, and I put all my thoughts into attempting to hear the voice. It was so subdued, the volume of the voice low, but I could barely hear her as I attempted to listen a bit closer to what was being said. I heard Ayumi's voice, and after a moment or two I was able to hear her much easier as I trained my ears to focus on what she was saying.

"Arik? I'm glad you're okay now. Do you know who I am?" she asked me, and I wished I could have nodded. She moved around in front of me, to where I could actually see her again, and I saw a smile on her face. I always did like her smile, on the few occassions that she actually did so. When I felt some movement in my neck, I was surprised to see my glance from her eyes fall down towards her chest, and then back to her eyes again. _Damn, what was I thinking? Did that accident turn me into a pervert_, I asked myself, embarassment welling up inside of me. I could feel my face redden a bit as I heard startled reactions from the other two that I had seen. A doctor and a reploid of some sort... a medical reploid, most likely. Ayumi smiled brightly, as if she didn't care that I had just looked to her chest, and I had to wonder why that would be. _She'd always been rather defensive about her body. Especially at school, when she'd first moved here_, I remembered.

The memory of that made me smile a little bit. I could feel the change in my face as I smiled, and the reploid and doctor seemed to gasp for some reason. The medical reploid was soon over next to me with a glass of water, and I smiled to the man in appreciation as he gave the glass to Ayumi. I'd seen this done in the school cafeteria before... Well, the one time anyone tried, she'd been doused with the contents by the girl who had decided to be nasty to her. But not even a single drop of water fell from the glass as she took it from him, and then she came around to my side. She began to help support my back, keeping me sitting up straight as I felt the cool glass against my lips. I parted my lips, and I couldn't help but to think how strange it was that the merest action took so much effort. The glass was lifted and I felt the water slide down past my lips and into my throat.

That was an odd sensation... why was it like I couldn't feel the coldness of the water once it was in my throat? I felt pressure, of the slightest amount, but other than that? Nothing at all! I swallowed, and the water was down the hatch. Finally, I could feel like I could speak. "Th.. thank..." I stammered, and then I could swear I felt another click before I managed to speak for real. "Thank you, Ayumi." I said, and groaned slightly as I shuddered again. I was practically naked, it seemed, and it was pretty cold in here. And the sheet that had been covering me was set to the side... a lot of good it'll do me there, I realized, and I smiled again as I heard the two doctors talk in the background.

"Um... Why can't I seem to move much?" I asked slowly, unable to lift my arms or look down any further than I had been able to so far. There was this pulsing in the back of my head that made me groan again. More pressure? Damn, was I in some sort of compactor or something? It sure seemed like it... there was a lot of pressure from all sides, throughout my body. I waited for an answer, even as Ayumi gave me a hug. I could feel the pressure from her arms, how she pressed against my body... and I felt her warmth as well, causing me to blush slightly just before she released me and stepped back as the doctors came into sight.

"My name is Lifesaver... yes, I realize how redundant that is to be named, but as the first of Lifesaver-brand reploids, I got stuck with it." the medical reploid said, and I attempted to nod again... only to fail miserably. "Anyway... Arik, was it?" he asked, and I nodded to the reploid that I didn't know. "I'm afraid that... well, most of your body was crushed during the rail accident. If it wasn't for your young friend here, you likely would have died before our response teams could arrive in time. We had to replace about 80 of your body as a result. Effectively... you're a cyborg now. Almost a reploid, but not quite..." he said, and I felt my strength that I'd managed to eke out after the last few moments of being awake slide from my grasp.

_I'm not even human anymore?! How did it happen_... wait, that was easy to remember. Lifesaver reminded me. _That rail accident... the cars had fallen off of the track. Weightlessness for a few seconds_. _Then I felt pain... It was really bad. I could swear I heard something break other than the cars and the people that had been beneath me on the train_. Uncontrollably, I shuddered slowly as I lay back down on the bed, the shaking not stopping as my body just did what it felt like doing. I couldn't control myself. My eyes closed and I saw nothing but blackness. Save for a green light somewhere before me... _What was that light_? It was glowing softly, as if it was simply waiting for something, perhaps. I heard the others, Lifesaver and the other doctor talking even as Ayumi's voice was much closer.

_This is weird_, I told myself, even as I felt... was that even a feeling? Like a sound, really, some sort of pulsing that came from... well, not from me, but then there was an accepting sort of tone, almost like a short shrill whistle that caught my attention completely. _What the hell was that_? I asked myself, but of course there was no one to answer me. _Hell, I'm not even human. Who knows, maybe there's a reploid voice that I expected in my head_? I told myself, and though I couldn't feel it, I managed a smile that the others would probably see, were they actually watching me. That light grew stronger from the soft pulsing color that I'd been watching. It seemed to stop pulsing, for some reason, after a moment longer...

"_Arik?_" I heard... but not through my ears. No, this had a more internal sound to it. I tried looking around slowly, but I could see nothing but the darkness inside and that green light. "_I know you can hear me. Try to relax, I know you can._" came the same strange voice. But it was familiar. _Ayumi_? I wondered, and there was a short pause before there was any more that was said. I couldn't help that I was feeling cold, that I just couldn't stop shaking. "_We'll get you something to wear to keep you warm, Arik. And yes, this is Ayumi. I'm glad you can hear me now._" she said, and then suddenly she appeared in front of me, somehow. That green light had actually been her? Yes, it was really her... or some sort of internal representation, anyway. It was her outline, and a few 'scans' later she appeared in 3D, wearing what seemed to be a light green suit that was certainly skin-tight, if not revealing.

_Ayumi... what's going on? How can I possibly see you like this?_ I asked her, and she smiled a little bit. "_We have more in common now than ever... we're connected right now, through a networking option that our bodies have, Arik. There's no need to be afraid now. We just want to help._" she told me, and I was stunned. _I... I'm really not a human anymore, am I_? I asked in my mind, not quite asking her, though she did nod almost sadly at my query. I sighed softly, and winced slightly as I felt the pressure start up again. _What is going on here_? I asked myself, though she heard me as well. She took a moment to think, and then I saw some sort of screen appear in front of her as she did something to pull up what looked to be a diagnostic check of some sort.

"_Your new body is attempting to complete the connections to your mind, Arik. Until that takes place, you'll feel a bit of discomfort like you have been feeling as of late._" she informed me, and then showing me the data. I saw it and somehow knew it was correct... _but how did she pull it up like that_? She seemed to smile and turned off the screen that she had made, and I suddenly had a screen full of data in front of me as well. "_Just think about it, and you can do whatever you want to with your new systems, Arik. It should take a few more days for your systems to fully integrate with you though, so take it easy. If you need to talk with me, just try and call out to me like this._" she told me, and I nodded slowly as I saw her address flash before my eyes. It took only a moment to memorize and store the information away, and then she smiled and left, vanshing completely after a moment.

My eyes opened after that, and I gasped a little as I saw Ayumi staying rather close to me, her hand on mine as our network disconnected from one another. "I hope this integration will hurry up... I don't want to deal with this pain much longer." I said quietly, smiling a little as I stared up towards the ceiling now. I saw the other two that had been in the room in front of me, and then I felt a plastic mask of some sort placed over my nose and mouth. Sleep soon followed as I recognized the gas somewhere in the back of my mind as that which was used to knock out patients in preparation for surgery. _Oh great, what now_?

---

Ayumi was smiling as she stepped away from her friend, the two doctors now giving the young man some respite from the pain that he had obviously felt for a moment there. She'd actually managed a link with him! Of course, it was somewhat forced, and not exactly easy on her end to see anything, but speaking had been simple enough. And he'd calmed down a bit, too. Of course, he hadn't been told the important information yet, either. That his parents were gone, and that he would need to find some way to pay the hospital for the new body. "How long will it be before he should start trying to use his new systems?" she asked Lifesaver, andthe white reploid turned around and shrugged slowly.

"Tomorrow, maybe. Perhaps longer, depending on how he feels about this. Not to mention that the body is practically on loan, and only half paid off right now. I have no idea how he'll get more money outside of a full-time job." the medical reploid replied, smiling a little. There was certainly the chance that he'd offer to be studied for the sake of the process he'd just been through, but that didn't pay a whole lot- maybe 1/4 again what remained after draining his parent's bank account and his own meager savings. They had not done it yet- they required the boy's signature, first. Of course, that required motor control on his part, and obviously that was something that the boy had no access to as of yet.

The young-looking reploid nodded slowly, the smile on her face never faltering. "Well, that's good. I want to be able to talk with him again soon, though. Let me know when he begins learning?" she asked, to which Lifesaver nodded. She sent him the address at which to reach her, basically her 'phone number,' to use an archaic term. She soon skipped out from the room and then walked down the hallway to the elevator. She had several things to do now, she realized. The two doctors watched the happy reploid wander out of sight, and the older reploid laughed softly to himself as he shook his head. _Youth_, he told himself, and then both of them went back to working on the boy's systems to help align the nervous system so that the new body could more easily synchronize with Arik's synapses.

---

Elsewhere

---

It had been over a week since the maverick uprising had begun. Commander X had managed to destroy several of the mavericks and restored power to the remaining parts of Dopplertown that had not been laid to waste. Volt Catfish was gone, as was Tunnel Rhyno. Toxic Seahorse was gone as well, making it mostly safe for humans and reploids to return to what few jobs remained available to them during this crisis. The power plant, the mines, and the sewage treatment center all were now free from maverick control, though they were being swept by the remaining hunters for any mechaniloids that may have been missed. Zero was in charge of the clean-up duty- ever since his ressurection, Dr. Cain had ordered that he keep out of direct battle until such time that his operating capacity could be returned to full strength.

Since the beginning of the uprising, new units had been formed from the newest recruitment class of reploids and humans. The 17th unit and the 0 unit remained, and the 14th was re-formed as well, led by an irregular named Magma Dragoon. The young reploid showed promise... and a knack for battle that had allowed him to set himself up as a Class A hunter who led his newly trained units on training exercises. It was the Dragoon who was at the sewage treatment plant now, his small squad of five reploids following him as they walked carefully about. They'd met with only minor resistance so far, a few missile launching and cannon firing mechaniloids that were easily dealt with by the Dragoon's flame attacks.

"So easy... is this all that Commander X left us with?" he asked aloud, groaning slightly afterwards. How he yearned for a fight against an actual maverick. He'd never had the chance, not yet, to defeat a maverick who had been in charge of a small mechaniloid army. Not like Commander X was doing, at least. He received an affirmative from the scouter reploid, and he couldn't help but to sigh slowly. "Alright, 14th... continue ahead, and watch yourselves. Spread out and comb the area. If you find any decent mechaniloids or some maverick reploid, check with me immediately. Do not attack or pursue, simply keep watch over it. We don't want this place trashed." he told his troops, who silently followed the order as they hefted their varying weapons.

They soon disappeared and Dragoon looked to his clawed feet. Stylized after the mythic dragons in a more humanoid form, he was a daunting figure in red that stood taller than even Zero was. Strangely, he looked about the right size despite his appearance. His fists clenched at his side and he just shook for a moment. He hated places like this- dark, damp, and cool. The first he could deal with, but the last two he hated. "Why couldn't I go to Tunnel Rhyno's mines? At least there I'd be comfortable!" he asked himself, and sighed as a light glowed on his arm for a second.

"If you're comfortable, you might become lax." came the self-assured female voice from the comlink, and Dragoon just groaned softly. It was that navigator that had been assigned to his unit for this mission. Why had HQ ordered navigators to help the newest units? Didn't the higher ups trust the units who were out and about, risking their lives to make life easier for humans and reploids?! Obviously not... and besides, there was something about this particular reploid who had come from the Northwest American branch of the Maverick Hunters. A new generation reploid who had been training for her position, the profile he pulled up told him. At least she knew what she was doing, he realized, and then finally came to the decision to respond to the woman.

"Alia, do you have to reply the obvious to me?" he asked the navigator, a sigh escaping him as the dragoon shook his head. After a second, he grinned and commented, "You don't need to answer that, either." At least having a navigator allowed for an interesting diversion on missions such as this, he had to concede. An old style Metall strayed into his sight, and with an almost easy point of his gauntleted right hand, burned the thing to ash with a powerful strike from his flame cannon. "Didn't see that mechaniloid comin', did ya Alia?" he asked after a second as he watched the smoke rise from the barrel of his cannon, which was set underneath his hand. He played with the smoke, his fingers displacing it as he grinned a little.

"Oh, I saw it, Dragoon. I just thought you could handle a tiny threat like that without my watching out for you... kinda like the missile that's been fired at your back, and is going to hit you in five seconds?" came Alia's voice, the sound of smug indifference easily apparent as the Dragoon turned quickly, his flame cannon raised and then fired at the missile that he immediately locked onto. The missile keeped coming in, darting straight into the fire... and blew up just before impacting the Dragoon, the explosion knocking the unit commander back merely a foot from his original position. A small darkened streak found its way onto his chest, and the Dragoon smiled as he found the missile launching Mechaniloid attempting to move away... slowly, as if it had no care in the world.

"Good call, Alia..." he muttered, and then hunched over as his jaws moved away from one another. The burning furnace within him exploded, forcing the flames of his making through his strengthened throat and mouth, and then expelled in a burst of superheated plasma as the launched fire made a bee-line for the mechaniloid. At the merest touch of the intense temperature, the mechaniloid simply disintigrated, and the burst died down as the Dragoon closed his jaws, a slight grin apparant in his voice, if not on his metal face. "Ah... tasty." Magma commented, patting his metal chest lightly and listening to the sound of metal upon metal, rather like a drum before he laughed to himself. "Now, that kinda information I can use!"

---

And somewhere else

---

Back in HQ, Alia sighed softly. She'd passed all her tests with flying colors, and look at her now. Training with yesterday's reploids who thought they were tougher than Sigma and four times as powerful. _Especially that Dragoon_, she considered, as she sat back in her chair. He wasn't quite as bad in some ways. But in others, he was the worst. He was always training, sparring with teammates and others, trying to reach the same level as the famed Zero and X. He had nearly reached that plateau, too. But he was still able to have fun. She'd seen him playing some ancient game system one time, something called an arcade game. The title was half worn out, but the game still worked well, even if the graphics in it were horrendous. _Dragoon had called it Street Fighter 2... or something like that. It had a long subtitle, one that was longer than the normal title itself_, she remembered.

"Oh, cheer up!" came a voice from nearby, and Alia turned to the voice with the english accent. It was that transfer reploid from England, she recognized, and Alia grinned slightly before shaking her head slowly. "Come on, Alia... at least you're not working as a Repliforce navigator. They navigate with the unit they're working with." the voice said, and Alia grinned slightly. That would at least be interesting, to be working above the scenes rather than behind them, she told herself, even as the other reploid continued. "At least I'd enjoy that part of a mission. My brother would never allow it, though."

"Oh, come on, Iris. The Colonel can't keep his 'little' sister from growing up or from doing whatever she wants, can he?" was Alia's response, which got a little giggle from her fellow navigator. The Repliforce was one of those postings that most navigators wanted to work in. _They had many more freedoms than the Maverick Hunter navigators had... but, at least here we're kept safe from exposure to enemy attack_, she conceded in her mind. The brown haired reploid, Iris, just grinned a little before shrugging and looking distraught. Alia couldn't help but to shake her head slowly. The Colonel was a reploid that was Iris' counterpart, and they were practically activated at the same time. _At least Colonel came over to visit her every once in a while..._ Alia sighed inwardly, wishing that she'd had some reploid from her generation of models that she could consider family.

"I just hope that I'll get a more important posting sometime." Alia commented, and Iris nodded slightly. Thanks to how the global government had set up the economy, the only reploids making much money were the ones who worked in repair shops or in the Repliforce. The Maverick Hunters were an entirely seperate entity from the Repliforce, and were paid directly out of the defense budget of every country they operated in. Only those who had higher positions received better pay an better living conditions. It was their dream that they would at least be able to get their own room sometime, rather than having to bunk in a room with a roommate. At least then, there would be something that reploids enjoyed and many humans took for granted- privacy!

"Better get back to work." Iris commented as she saw a flash of blue walk past their consoles. Alia nodded, catching a look at the one who passed by their work stations. She seemed to pale as she recognized almost immediately who it had been, and she snuck a glance over her shoulder to try and see him better. It was him! She turned back to her console with a smile and a thought. _Maybe working here wouldn't be so bad... as long as she could work with HIM sometime_. It was enough to make her forget about she had been complaining about earlier with Iris. Little did she know that a pair of optics were trained on her for a second as well as the blue-armored figure walked out of sight, down another hallway.

---

Back at the Hospital

---

It was some time later when I finally came to, and with a groan that escaped me, I raise a hand to my brow before I realized what I had attempted to do. But I couldn't raise my right arm! I opened my eyes, and found myself barely restrained at my arms and legs as I gave an experimental tug with them, going from right arm to left, and then the same with my legs. "Hmm... looks like I've got some control now." I told myself, and then immediately winced as I heard how rough my voice sounded. Lack of moisture, I told myself... But then there was some strange voice in my head that started telling me otherwise. "_Voice synthesizer coming online._" was what was said to me, and I blinked as I shook my head slowly. _Oh, I see. How badly was I injured_? I wondered, realizing that they must have replaced almost my entire body in order to save me. "_Answer to query unknown. Probability of 78 percent body replacement is 95 percent._" came the voice again. It didn't really have a tone that I could mistake as any other than my own!

It was then that I realized that there must be something else inside of me, something very unusual. _That isn't me. I don't talk that way_, I told myself, and I certainly wasn't all that surprised when I heard a response. "_Correct. This system is designated R01-Beta, also called Roy. This system provides the link between host's human brain and electronic systems. An archaic way of saying what I this system is the term of middleman.' Once this system is fully integrated with host, response time will achieve near 100 percent efficiency._" I could hardly beleive this- I'm hearing another voice, in my head! "_Correct. Once system is integrated with host mind, system 'voice' shall not be required, and will be shut down to achieve maximum efficiency between body and mind._"

"Oh, I see you are awake. How is our patient today, hm...?" I heard the medical reploid's voice, and I looked over towards the reploid as he came closer. He was smiling a little, and I couldn't help but to wonder if he ever dealt with more than one voice in his mind on a normal basis... probably not. I chuckled a little and shrugged, giving a tug on the restraints, which seemed to grow tighter in much the same manner as that one puzzle toy I'd played with back in grade school. I felt a slight pulsing feeling, like from when Ayumi had 'talked' into my mind, and I shrugged as I felt myself shiver. The same tone played in my mind, and then I felt the man take some information from me as he touched my right wrist, where a human would possibly have a heartbeat.

"I've been better, I think. At least I don't have a headache... unless that other voice in my head could be considered one." I replied with a grin as I poked a little fun at the 'middleman' system that had gone silent. The reploid nodded, and smiled slightly at the small humor that I had forced into the conversation. _Huh... not much for comedy_, I thought to myself, as I forced myself to sigh and just lay back on the bed again. I could feel his query to the middleman system, and though I couldn't catch the entire amount of information provided, I figured that it wouldn't take long before I was told anyway.

"Indeed... I'm happy to report that you should be learning how to utilize the Roy system for the next day or two, until your synchronization ratios have risen another 2 percent. Then we can actually test your motor controls and see about getting you to learn to walk again." he told me, and I nodded slightly once more as I closed my eyes. That tone took place again as he logged out of my system, and I winced slightly. Obviously, he saw this and grinned slightly. "Don't worry, the system will inform you how to change the sound volume of that as well. That was one of the first things that reploids learned to deal with quickly... I remember having a headache from that tone for an hour before it got around to informing me how to change it. At least you have aspirin that can help with your headache!" he said, and I couldn't help but to smile as he laughed shortly.

_Strike that_, I thought to myself. _Seems he has a sense of humor after all_, I considered, even as I watched him walk away. "Hey... um, doc? What's your name?" I asked, and the reploid turned around as he smiled slightly. Something funny, I wondered, as my eyes tracked his movement, and he seemed to just stand there for a moment before shrugging slightly.

"My name's Lifesaver." he told me, and I nodded slightly as I made sure to remember the name. "I'll send a nurse up here with some food for you. You don't, however, get to feed yourself, so be prepared to wear a bib, kid." he told me, and the audible groan that escaped my thr... "_Voice synthesizer_." came the internal voice, and I rolled my eyes. _That I can't be corrected on_, I told the system, to which it didn't reply but I couldn't help the satisfaction that I felt, despite the dread of being fed by some nurse that I didn't know. _Fed like a baby... things can't get much worse than that. Well, not for an ego_, I amended, knowing that the system would likely have attempted to correct me on that as well. Lifesaver grinned as he saw my roll my eyes, and I watched him walk out again. I bet he knew exactly what was going on, too.

---

**Author's Note**: Hehe. I couldn't help myself. I had to at least give some cameos in here, and I think that I made them realistic and yet integrated with the storyline of the games. What do you guys think? I don't think I've ever seen a characterization of Magma Dragoon before, and he's one of my favorite reploids, so... Well, this should be decent, at least. I hope so anyway. I know the main story is progressing slowly, but I'm trying to provide a focus on the character's development so I'm sorry that this isn't quite as action-packed as you readers might wish it was. Anyway, please leave a review!

Responses:

**Delta X**- I did review your fic... three times, I think, in total. I like what you did there, but fortunately I can claim creative license of a sort. I'm not going the route of transferring souls, like you did, from human to machine. Still, I hope you update more, because I like what you've done so far.

**Iniora Nackatori** (sp?)- Sorry if I butchered your name. What did you mean by "choppy sentences?" If you could give me an example, I would appreciate it! I'm my own worst critic, most of the time, and constructive criticism is always something that I try to work with.

**Guest**- Thanks for the praise. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter just as much as the first.

**FarlandHunter**- Thanks for coming to review this! And you're welcome to the advice, even if I can't remember what the advice was that I gave to you. Sorry!


	3. Is life supposed to work out like this?

Chapter 3

**Summary**: This is the hell that is my life. No, not really. I can't back that up. Yet.

**Author's Note**: Hehe, two of my favorite quotes in a single summary. This is going to take place in the span of a week for the main characters. I really hope you guys like the fact that I've managed to include the two most well liked (seemingly) female reploids in the series, and I do plan on having them in upcoming chapters as well. I don't have much in the way of personalities for them yet, but I think what there is so far is pretty good. I hope so, anyway. Suggestions on their personalities (as well as NPC reploids) will be taken through e-mail only. If I get a review with a suggestion for such things through reviews, I'll delete 'em if I can. You've been warned. Also, I don't care that I spell "Dammit" instead of "Damnit." The main reasoning behind it is that no one actually pronounces the 'n' in "damnit." If you nitpick that little detail/spelling error, I really won't care. lol

**Disclaimer**: It's in my bio, but if the guys at capcom really want to be too lazy to look it up, then here it is. I don't own Mega Man X, Zero, Alia, Magma Dragoon, Lifesaver, or any other Capcom character in existence. However, Arik and Ayumi are my own creations. Got a problem with it? Too bad.

-

One week later

-

The end was near. In Maverick Hunter Headquarters, one could almost cut the tension that was thick in the air with a knife. In the remains of Doppler Town, one could likely punched a hole in it. And in the hospitals? Well, for one person, the end was near, but in a far different way than one might expect after a Maverick uprising of these proportions. Lives were saved, lost, and regained in mere moments that even time itself could not deny.

It was during one of these moments that I found myself on the floor after a bit of practicing. "Dammit!" I muttered in frustration, though the words had to have been muffled on the linoleum that lined the floor itself. _Face first to the floor after such a promising 3.782 seconds_, I told myself, and a sigh escaped me. This was getting exhausting, I thought, as I picked myself back up. I finally got enough control over the body that that voice had stopped correcting me on every little detail, and had shut itself down as a result. My knees were slower than my arms at this point, and it took a few more seconds to be able to tuck them up under my body so I could get a purchase on the floor with my feet.

I heard a giggle behind me, back towards the entrance to the room, and I looked over my shoulder to see who it was. The nurse watched me as I did this, looking rather amused. She was a human nurse, surprisingly- so even if she did try to help me get back up, she probably couldn't do it. I shrugged slightly from where I was, and pushed down with my feet and legs slowly, forcing myself up to my feet. _Balancing act_, I told my mind, trying to find some sort of focus to allow me to stay upright for once. This was something that the reploids couldn't even help me with, as they knew how to walk by the time they were activated. It was second nature, to them, but to me? It was with my own two legs, but not with two new legs like I had.

I was soon on my feet, wobbling somewhat as I adjusted some of my processes to even out the weight ratios enough to keep me upright. After a moment, I could sense that the body had begun to stabilize, and I smiled slightly as I looked to the floor as my right foot came forward. _At least I was no longer having to actively think about doing everything now_, I told myself, as I placed the foot firmly upon the floor. It didn't move, and then I found my left foot lifting slightly, the weight of my body switching back over to the right as I waited for a second.

And so did the foot. Inwardly, I cursed as I gave my own self instructions on how to complete the maneuver. And so the left foot finally came to the floor, contact firm, further ahead of the right foot. I smiled slightly- despite the fact that I was now learning how to walk again, at least this was infinitely better than being fed like a baby up to only 5 days ago. Ayumi assured me that she would never let anyone know, but from the small smile that she always had on her face... _Well, I hope she enjoyed the view_, I contended with myself, as I chuckled softly. _She'll probably keep those images in her memory banks for all time_!

Why was it so difficult to even walk? How did the babies do it? Well, perhaps because babies always take less time to adapt, to figure out how to walk upright once their muscles were developed enough to allow it. _Not me... My muscles are hydraulics, my blood fusion energy, my spine (and the majority of my body in general) made from parts built from the lowest bidder_, I thought, and a small sigh escaped me. _But, I wasn't the worst off. I heard about the casualty reports_. Ayumi told me about what had happened after the train wreck, how a reploid had gone maverick and caused the city's center to implode, and then blow outward. Whatever hadn't imploded had been destroyed by super-density materials as a result.

_Dammit_!

But no, I was now in debt. All the insurance in the world couldn't cover every expense that my new body had cost me... and my parents didn't have the best insurance, nor a large amount of money in the bank. It was a good thing that they had been saving for a vacation that they will now never be able to go on, but even that only helped to make a small dent in the expenses. Lifesaver told me that there wasn't a whole lot of money left to pay, but I would need to start paying the bills relatively soon after I was released from the hospital.

I'd asked about my parents, but all the answers that I managed to get were ones that didn't give me a direct answer. "They haven't been found yet," and "There are still more people being recovered everyday," they told me. Even Ayumi had skirted the issue, which didn't make me feel any better about this or about myself. I couldn't help but to hope that they would be recovered, but it had been a week already. In my heart, or what passed for it now, I felt a sense of foreboding that made me shiver. Was it possible that they could still be alive even after all this time? There hadn't been reports of survivors from the center of the city that had been destroyed... it was all a desolate wasteland now, after all. My other friends were probably gone, too.

"What a way to wake up." I said under my breath, and started taking another step. With each step, I felt that it was becoming easier and easier. Soon, that nurse won't have anything to laugh about, I thought, and grinned slightly at that possibility. However, the gravity of the situation just sank my spirits almost immediately. I'd been having hints as of where to go to get the money that I owe from others- Ayumi and Lifesaver, as well as on television itself... There were all sorts of recruitment drives being done as of late. Maybe I could find an organization that paid well that I could enter? Maybe. Right now, here, there wasn't a single chance that anyone would hire an invalid!

-

Elsewhere

-

A legion of mechaniloids in front of him, none behind him, and most of his squad gone to scrap or less. He was the last from the 14th, save for a single other reploid. The others were either destroyed or had been transported back to HQ for repairs. It was just the two of them now. _Dammit, why did I disobey orders so directly_, the commanding officer asked himself, the Dragoon giving a low growl that caused the humanoid reploid beside him to look at him as if to ask what was wrong. But the reploid didn't bother to ask, and no answer was given. Missile-launching mechs, ground-rolling mechaniloids, and remote beam cannon drones littered the landscape... but not in the way that the two would have preferred it.

The mechaniloids nearly had them surrounded. There wasn't a single Maverick Reploid with the bunch, just a whole lot of mindless drones, reprogrammed to kill any who attempted to get close to the citadel. X and Zero had gone ahead, and who knew what kinda luck they were having. The Dragoon cursed as he checked his internal energy reserves and weapons energy. Dammit. "Get outta here, kid. This is no place for a rookie." he said to the reploid beside him. Indeed, the reploid was a rookie, and had managed to survive this entire time due to luck and experimental propulsion systems. But now, with those system practically destroyed, Magma knew that there wasn't anything that the kid could possibly do. "Tell Alia that my own communications systems are destroyed... I'll try to make my way back to the landing craft."

The kid nodded, and was soon teleported out. Magma grinned slowly- at least the rookie knew when to follow orders. The jamming frequencies hadn't let up- there was no way to communicate with the outside world save through GPS relays and transportation programs. But the kid had been lucky, as he was one of the few reploids who'd been able to teleport outta this death trap. The others had to escape on foot to the landing craft, because of the transmission jamming that the citadel was producing to deny immediate access by any but the strongest of transport signals. His own transport signal had been cut off when that particular system had been destroyed... along with quite a large portion of his right arm and leg. His generator's containment field was still working, though just barely. System checks had confirmed that much more damage would send it into overload.

Magma snarled as he looked about at the slowly approaching drones, and his body shuddered slowly as he felt the power rising within him. The reploid smiled again, slowly. His own internal firepower was about to be known by the mechaniloids again, he thought to himself, before a bit of the flames escaped his jaws. Finally, he hunched over and expelled the plasma flame, its range extending beyond normal parameters due to a lack of magnetic bottling. It disintegrated a large portion of the enemy mechaniloids, and he found himself tiring.

But he forced the flame to continue. He moved from one side to the other, forcing his flame to weave through numerous mechaniloids. They burned to ash, blowing up quickly. But as the flame eventually died down, so did the destruction count. Magma went down to a knee, breathing deeply as his generator attempted to compensate for the power-loss by turning up the production of his energy, requiring him to breath in order to help cool down his system to safer levels. The Dragoon knew that he had only a few seconds before the remaining mechaniloids would converge on his position...

-

"14th unit! Anyone? Dragoon?" came the frantic call, and to which there was no indication of a response. A scowl was set onto attractive features as Alia shook her head. She'd known that they would be jumping into a mute zone, where her voice couldn't be heard through the communications array. However, a few signals managed to get through to the newer reploids in the unit, and through them she had managed to at least provide some basic information to the unit. But the last one other than the commander had just teleported back to headquarters.

"Alia?" came the shaken voice, one from an uncertain rookie reploid. The one that had just teleported back in. "I was just ordered by Dragoon to return to base. He said that he'll be attempting to make it back to the landing craft, however." he told her, and the navigator nodded slightly before thanking the rookie. In her mind, she knew that the Dragoon had little chance to make it out of there, even if he used his internal flamethrower attack. He wasn't that maneuverable and was built a lot like a brick house- solid, but not fast. _He'll be lucky to survive long enough to make it to the lander_, she thought, though she wouldn't dare admit such a thing to the reploid who had just spoken with her.

"Dammit." she muttered, sitting back into her chair as her gloved right hand slid through her bangs and then through the short blond hair that she had. There wasn't anyone else in the room with her, that she knew of at least. Her processors and sensors were almost at the point of overloading at this point. _ The unit under her direction had nearly been destroyed_, she told herself, and allowed a groan to escape her systems as she stretched. There was nothing more to do, other than log the information into the central computer, and wait for a signal from Dragoon. She did this immediately and soon began waiting.

But as usual, her thoughts turned to those whom she had always been intrigued by. Zero and X, the two most mysterious reploids that the scientific journals had attempted to analyze... only to find almost nothing known about their internal systems. She remembered her own limited scans that she'd managed on X while attempting to stay busy on the business at hand- low level, they had resulted in nothing but headaches for the navigator. Alia shook her head once more, slowly. Nothing had managed to evade her sensors and analytical systems for longer than these two have managed to do, and the worst thing is that they weren't doing it purposefully! Of course, she'd never had the opportunity to truly train her scanners upon them, but she could still learn more about a reploid of her own generation than she could from them.

Hidden in the room was a squat reploid, outside of Alia's impressive, immediate sensor range. He was red in color, and rather amazingly large in his short state. He watched and listened, learning from the navigator's work and smiled slowly. When the time came, he'd be prepared to take over a navigator's job. The hunter who hid there grinned as he saw the blonde female reploid stand up and stretch before turning to walk out from the navigator's room to do something else. There was certainly something he wanted to do here... and he quickly moved over to the console that Alia had been sitting at after the door had closed behind the navigator.

The reploid took one look at the console's readings, few though they were, and he patched himself through to his own transportation system. He slipped into an energy transfer and was gone from the headquarters in the blink of an eye, his data being transmitted somewhere far away from the hectic Maverick Hunter Headquarters. The door slid open a few seconds later as Alia stepped back in, wiping her mouth slowly. She blinked as her sensors picked up some sort of massive thermal readings for a second, before the heat signature dissipated. _Better run a calibration test_, she thought to herself, and brought up the test as she sat back down in the command chair.

-

It was early the next day when I managed to wake up- damned sedatives. The nurses always ran them through me, forcing my body into a sleep state that caused the rest of me to follow. _Why_? _Because otherwise I might never sleep_? I had to wonder about it, as I got up out of the 'bed'. It was a lot more enclosed than I liked- as I was somewhat claustrophobic, I couldn't enjoy my normal sleeping habits now. The capsule, really, was rather enclosed, but I soon found myself out of it as I looked around slowly. It seemed kinda quiet... I couldn't help but think to myself as I stepped out of the capsule carefully. I'd made a lot of progress yesterday, but I still needed to set myself on a kind of autopilot if I wanted to get anywhere. That or the device that was set beside the capsule, which I grasped and pulled closer. A walker, and I chuckled softly. I probably looked ridiculous, moving slowly towards the door with my gown on.

I could hear quite a bit of noise coming from down the hallway, and I couldn't help but to wonder if that was what could have been the reason as to why I woke up so early. With a yawn, I stepped forward using the walker ahead of me to try and help keep my balance so I could find out what was happening. There were shouts of pain and the sound of feet, human and reploid, running every which way from outside the door. I heard a few distinct shouts, and I could swear I heard someone yell the word maverick. I staggered a bit as that threw my concentration off completely. Damned weight and balance ratios, I thought in the back of my mind as I made my way to the door. If there was a maverick here, I wanted to see it myself.

I found myself on the sideline as people hurried away from the central hallway, going into rooms and such. I was the only left to see what was going on, if anything, and found myself staring at a sight I had never seen before. "What... in the hell?" I muttered, blinking once, slowly. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There was a brown haired reploid at the end of the hallway, attacking anyone it could with, of all things, a hover stretcher machine. It was wearing normal street clothes, and I could hardly believe that it was actually a reploid for a moment. That is, until the stretcher was swung and I could hear two loud thuds as metal hit metal- the orderlies were reploids, I figured, from the force of the attack upon the floor as they impacted it. _This can't be... it has to be a nightmare!_ I told myself, mentally, as I watched a reploid I knew holding someone up in the grasp of one hand. From the scans I was receiving, the person in the reploid's hand was a human... it didn't take much imagination to consider the most likely course of action that would be made.

It was Ayumi! She had glanced down the hallway while holding the squirming captive in her right hand- a nurse that I had met the other day, no less. She was trying to get Ayumi to release her hold on her throat... which, after a sickening pop, my friend complied with her requests that had been made. Her eyes settled on the only one in sight, and I heard footsteps as I moved back into the room. My internal threat indicators were screaming at me now, the Roy system obviously kicking in due to the stress that was leading my mind through one hell of a loop. _Oh shit_! My mind was racing as I heard rough and fast steps fall down the corridor, coming ever nearer. Certainly, I'm sure that the patients that were in rooms leading to her were relieved when the steps went past, but as I turned around, I saw my friend in the doorway, her chest heaving slowly as she seemed to just take a good look at me.

I shivered as I saw the look in her eyes- crazed, but not devoid of any sort of feeling. I saw a deep pain in her eyes, as if a part of her was still active. But then I looked down to her hands and my own eyes seemed to widen as I saw the red liquid drip down along her fingertips and to the floor. It wasn't much, really, but obviously enough that she must have been here a short while or have been... "A... Ayumi?" I asked weakly, and she flashed a feral grin as she darted forward fast enough to wrap her right hand around my throat. Breathing was impaired now, as I felt the pressure build in her grip upon my reinforced neck. I gasped for air that didn't seem to come fast enough as my generator began pumping out energy faster.

Ayumi batted the walker away and wrapped the fingers of her left hand up into making a fist against her palm as she raised me slowly into the air with her considerable strength. One of my hands leapt to the hand at my throat, and the other attempted to block what I could see coming. The fist slammed forward and I felt a jarring pain in my left arm as I managed to parry the blow. My arm went numb, but not slack, as I felt her fist continue to connect with my body. I knew without a doubt, if I was still human in these areas, that I would definitely be hurt if not dead already. I could feel the pressure on my arm increasing to the point where I simply knew that the metal portion underneath my syntheflesh skin was becoming dented, and I began to truly cry out in pain as I locked my gaze onto her eyes. There wasn't much time before the shock of this attack would take over any responses I could make, and it took over a minute for me to even prepare myself for this, thoughts of hurting my friend in my mind, conflicting with my need to survive and that friends don't hurt friends.

"You damned maverick!" I exclaimed, and drew back my right leg and then forced it forward, my hydraulics screeching as I attacked Ayumi's body with as much force as I could put behind it. My survival was at stake, the human part of me and the reploid part of me merging as one in this action when my foot slammed forward quickly. Her eyes flashed in pain, though she made no sound of it other than the crunching of metal upon metal. Her grasp was released from my throat, and I fell onto the floor. My left foot connected with the floor, and then my right foot touched down as she staggered back. I could breathe again, but I could see that besides my attack, she was preparing something herself.

"Maverick? I'm nothing like that Gravity Beetle who killed an entire city... including your parents. Sorry Arik!" she told me, in a voice that wasn't quite the same as the voice she usually spoke in. True, it was cheerful, but the underlying tone was far from normal for my friend. Her eyes changed from the crazed look to something altogether different. Softer, perhaps, and yet the look reminded me of someone who might be pleading. "Arik! Please, stop me. I don't want to continue doing this. Please!" she said, and cried out in pain as her hands went to her head and held it between them. She seemed to be doing the reploid equivalent of crying as she crouched in place, but I was now in shock. She remained in that position for a moment longer, as if trying to suppress the virus in her systems by simply using a physical gesture to 'compress' the thing.

Ayumi was still alive in there! But I know that I can't do anything to stop the virus once it was in a reploid's body. How did it get there? A flash of rage ran its course through me, my body shuddering as I came up close, my chest heaving as my right arm drew back. Ayumi saw this, but did nothing. A small smile seemed to appear on her face for a split second before she closed her eyes, perhaps regaining control for a second- and then I surged forward with all my strength. My arm spun slightly, rotating from having my knuckles to the side to pointing straight forward, and then I hit. Metal hit upon metal, and then I felt her skull cave in somewhat, leaving a dent in it. I felt a shock in my body as my fist struck against her skull, her hair, and into the systems between, and I shuddered as I stepped back before I struck again. And again. When I managed to stop after the fourth strike, I was breathing hard, and clutched my damaged left arm against my body as I watched her look up at me.

The syntheflesh that had covered her face was partially gone, the hair that I couldn't help but to look at when she was around falling from her scalp to the floor. When her eyes opened, I found myself staring at an unthinking and unfeeling machine as she got up and moved to attack me... She grinned maniacally, and when I saw her eyes, I became very frightened. It was the first time I'd ever stared into the eyes of a maverick... but this was my friend. There wasn't anything left of Ayumi. I saw nothing in her eyes that remained as the person I had come to know and like as much as a family member. She was on her feet after only a single second, and the crazed look in her eyes seemed to escalate now as I saw her body sway for a moment, as if she was regaining her balance. "Time's up." she said simply, a quiet and rather toneless sound in her voice as I prepared myself for her next attack.

She darted forward, trying to bring her right fist up into an upper cut, but wound up falling forward, face-first to the ground as I stood there, arms raised while I breathed deeply. I watched her fall, and found a triplet of fairly large blades in my friend's back. I looked up, and saw Lifesaver in the doorway. He was breathing hard, as if he might have run all the way here, and I just watched as he came in and took the blades out of Ayumi's body. I was completely in shock at this point... I'd attacked my only friend left! My body shuddered without my thinking of it, and I fell to my knees as my hands impacted the floor. I lay there, prone beside my best friend... who was now dead. I could see her eyes... god, it was like they were staring straight through me. A blank stare, a look and feel of death to them as I shuddered. I looked up to Lifesaver, who was standing near the door with a grim look on his face.

"You did what she would have wanted..." Lifesaver commented in a low volume, and I just looked at my now gone friend. "I doubt she wanted to hurt you, Arik. But, that's what the maverick virus does." he said. I nodded slowly, able to keep myself from any sort of involuntary secondary tasting of a meal thanks to the fact that I had not yet eat anything. First my parents and my friends... and now, my only friend left had gone maverick. And she was as good as dead now, too. With a sigh, I felt the bitter acidic taste of bile in my throat, and I swallowed quickly as I got back up to my feet slowly. My left arm moved back to being pressed against my chest- obvious bruises and syntheflesh scraped from my arm, the bare metal exposed as I wavered slightly, but managed to remain standing somehow.

I felt a bit of pain in the back of my mind as a sudden light flashed down from the ceiling, and was followed by two more as well. Maverick Hunters, I thought to myself, as I stepped back towards the recharge capsule. I stayed behind them all, though all three immediately turned their busters on me. _If I was a human still, I'd start sweating_, I realized, as I looked between the three and raised my hands, shaking my head in denial. "Where's the maverick?" the one in the lead asked. It was a humanoid reploid, with straight gray hair that reached to his shoulders. One of the others was a type of bird of prey, and it looked like his or her armor had been stylized after a hawk. The other looked like some sort of animal... a weasel or a ferret, maybe. The obvious leader was carrying what looked like an old-style naginata with an energy blade, while the other two surely had some sort of bladed weapon as well that was out of sight. The one in the bird-like armor stepped closer, and I stepped back. Did a maverick usually back off, or do they hold their ground? I didn't know, but either they thought it was funny behavior for a maverick or something because the hawk-like reploid just assumed an easy stance.

"He's not the maverick... He managed to hold the maverick off long enough for me to deactivate the maverick." was Lifesaver's reply, and I nodded slightly. When the medical reploid directed their attention to the maverick on the floor, I couldn't help but to shake my head slowly The hawk-like reploid looked to the floor, where the body of my one-time friend was, and I sighed softly as I heard the weapons that had been trained on me be turned off. The weasel-like reploid stepped over and picked up Ayumi's body, and my heart seemed to jump slightly before I noticed the humanoid reploid watching me.

"What is it?" I asked quietly. I'd already had to fight my only friend, and now? She was deactivated. Chances are that now, since she was completely deactivated, was effectively as dead as a reploid can get without being destroyed. The personality matrix in a reploid was a very delicate thing, after all, and the loss of power for any length of time past two minutes could easily destroy the personality that had been stored in the body of a reploid. I hadn't realized it, but my fists were still clenched, and I hadn't relaxed them yet. It took another moment of the reploid watching me before I realized this and finally managed to relax again. It was only a moment before my fingers came from where they had curled against my palm, and I found myself watching him in return.

"You did well to hold a maverick at bay." he said simply, and then he looked to the hawk-like reploid. He (or she) nodded in return, or possibly in agreement with that assessment. "Obviously, she was not designed to be a combatant, but perhaps we can gain some sort of information from her memory banks." he told the hawk, and I watched as his partner shrugged slightly. I sighed a little- well, they'd have access to the memories she had of me, then. But what pained me more was the realization of what would happen to her body after everything was said and done. After the testing was finished. After they'd extracted every bit of information... she'd be melted down to scrap.

While the three maverick hunters were busy speaking with Lifesaver, I watched Ayumi as she lay slung along the weasel-like reploid's shoulder. _Limp, like a mannequin_, I thought to myself. Just as lifeless, now. "Rest in peace, Ayumi." I said quietly, hoping that the other reploids wouldn't hear my voice. I saw the hawk-like reploid glance to me, as if attempting to figure out what I was or something, and I looked back to it. The reploid flashed me a small smile, as if to tell me that it had heard me after all, and I just looked to the floor as I stood there, quiet and motionless, as I held my left arm against my chest. In my mind, I was now seeing the full consequences of everything that had happened in the past few weeks.

My eyes closed and I had the sudden urge to shut down. My world had died around me- now, I was the only one truly left from it. The internal command was there, that one that would tell Roy to shut down the generator that was now my heart. _To end all existence. Sense, touch. Sight, hearing. Taste, time. Emotion. All these things and more, to be erased at the simple command of the user's voice_. I knew that these things could end. _I wouldn't even explode. I'd simply shut down. There might even be a funeral, even if no one would go. My mother, my father. Their memory would live on, as would mine, with our few remaining relatives. I could never have children, never retain the family name unless I remained alive_. There was nothing that could be done about it, anymore. Genetic engineering had gone the way of the dinosaur ever since reploid sciences came about.

_For, the fact is, I am no longer human. However, I am not a robot. I am not even a reploid, though I am closer to one than to being a human than most anyone could ever dream to be_. I told myself this, and waited. I felt the heat of my body rise slowly, as I clenched my fists. I also felt a pain in the back of my head as I stood there thinking. The hunters must have left, I thought to myself, and I groaned softly as I finally just collapsed to the floor. _Let the shock take hold_, was my last memory that I could remember. _Decisions can wait_.

-

Lifesaver watched as the maverick hunters left, sending with them a message to his friend by the name of Alia to contact him when she had the time. The medical reploid sighed as he looked to the ceiling, glad that this little crisis was finally over with, even as he received an update as to the final toll on the facility. A dozen doctors killed, more than half that number of nurses killed. Twice that number each for being badly wounded or injured. At least four were in critical condition at this time, and one was not expected to make it through the night. When he heard the sound of metal on syntheflesh, the medical reploid looked to the young man who had been forced to fight the only person who had cared about him enough to attempt to try and help him through his recent trials.

Lifesaver held his breath- not something to worry about, for a reploid, but he moved over quickly to the fallen young man, even as his sensors picked up the readings of others just outside the door. He still managed to find a 'pulse' on the cyborg that he was now kneeling beside, and his breathing continued as he shook his head. In shock- he hadn't commited suicide or anything of the like. With a sigh, he picked up the young man and stuck him back into his recharge capsule. The reploid looked back to the door and frowned at the crowd of onlookers that stood there. Some had heard the entire thing, having been in the rooms beside this one. Others had just arrived for work.

"Get along, there's nothing to see here!" he told them, and the crowd slowly dispersed as Lifesaver walked up to the emptying doorway. To a nurse, he told the reploid to watch over the patient and see about grafting new syntheflesh onto his arm, as well as repairing the dent in the metal. And so the day went, with order being restored slowly, and many papers being filled out. By the end of the day, Lifesaver was worried about his own sanity... But he certainly knew better, to say the least. Too many of the hospital's own employees were forced into their own wards, either for repair or for surgery. _A few had not made it, while many others did. Most had suffered broken bones, two had suffered punctured lung. As for the reploids? A few days of self-repair would fix the minor injuries, while some had to go to a repair shop to have an arm or a leg replaced_.

Then, he realized, he hadn't thought much about the kid who had managed to stop that maverick... his own friend, the only one, from the records, who had taken the time to ever come and meet him in the hospital. To help him start learning how to walk, and use the functions that his new body had provided. How... why, even. _Why had she gone maverick so suddenly_? It was information that he doubted he would get, but if Alia was cleared to provide it... Well, no need to linger on it. What was done was done, and the boy was now in something of an 'induced' coma. It began as his sleeping, but the nurse had to put him into a deeper sleep in order to work on the left arm, which had been heavily dented in areas. A new strip of syntheflesh covered the arm now, the original having been thrown away after being deemed worthless and damaged beyond repair. He'd be woken up tomorrow... and then they'd find out just what the boy wanted to do.

-

The next day, but not at the hospital

-

"Well, Dragoon, I'm glad you managed to make it back... well, mostly in one piece." was what the condescending female's voice rang out, and the red-hued reploid groaned from the large and heavy hover stretched that he lay upon. Well, she was right about that much at least, he had to admit. Damned logic circuits... why did he have to admit that sort of thing, hm? His optics reintegrated themselves after a moment- he'd had himself on a sleep mode, to conserve his strength and let the nanomachines do their jobs. But now, it seemed rest time was over.

"Well, what else would you think would happen, hm? I got lucky when some red hunter provided some backup for me." he replied, the dragon-like reploid moving to sit up on the stretcher slowly. He was in fairly bad shape, with his left leg blasted apart at the shin. His right arm was actually completely missing... Well, from his shoulder, at any rate. It was lying right beside him at the moment on the stretcher. The Dragoon couldn't remember the name of the reploid who had found him limping towards the landers while the mechaniloids attempted to surround him. Their shots, cannon balls and energy blasts, rained all around him as he struggled to make it back... but then, they stopped. It was as if someone had destroyed them all at once, he told himself. His circuits had been on the verge of shut down mode as a result of the damage he'd taken when he felt a pair of arms on him. His optics had been badly damaged, and he was going on sheer memory in order to retrace his route back to the landing craft.

"A red hunter? Zero was on a mission with X to infiltrate Doppler's compound." was the reply, and Magma shrugged as best he could with only one shoulder still attached to his body. He focused his optics on the pink-armored reploid before him, her blonde hair remaining in one place easily enough as she assessed the leader of the 14th unit. "Anyway, there'll be reports to fill out when you are 'armed' again, so be prepared, commander." she told him, smiling a little. He could tell she was teasing him, but Magma knew that for some reason, he truly wanted to blast that smirk off of her face. He still had his flame burst available... but using it would probably shut him down for good.

"Yeah... well, thanks. How is the rest of the unit, Alia?" he asked, his slight anger dying down as he remembered the others who had been sent back to HQ after taking too much damage. The navigator sighed softly and shrugged at the question. He slouched slowly, leaning forward enough to cause the stretcher to wobble dangerously, as if warning that if he moved more, then he and anything on it (like his arm) would be pitched off. "That bad?" he asked quietly. For a reploid who was built for battles, he was very protective of the others who had qualified for his particular team.

"Six of them were lost in mid-transport. Three are being repaired and two are down for major repairs that the repairmen are not sure if they'll pull through..." she said softly, looking to the floor. Alia knew better about this particular unit commander than she let on. She knew of his concern for his troops, because she was their navigator. She had to know of this, after all. She was the one who provided them with the information that could decide the battle, even if the commander was the one making all the real decisions there. She felt sorry for Magma Dragoon, for he had done what he could, without her help and expertise. "The rest are either reting or being treated for minor damage to their vital systems." she finished. "I wish I had better news for you, sir. Also, the commander would like to have a word with you once your own repairs are finished. He expects to meet with the unit leaders other than X and Zero by noon tomorrow." she told him.

Dragoon nodded and inwardly sighed as he shook his head. He didn't even notice when Alia had snapped a smart salute to him, as he moved to lay down on the stretcher once more. A technician came up to him, and the Dragoon closed his eyes and entered a sleep mode in order to conserve what little energy he had left, as he was directed into the repair room. One of the last things that ran through his minds was a possible reassignment to the Repliforce squads... _but they were almost all of humanoid build. It wouldn't hurt to ask, though_...

-

Groggy, I soon found myself groaning as I came to. Everything was a blur, as I pushed my foot up... and felt it connect lightly with some sort of restraining mechanism. _Strange_, I thought. _Why would they have restrained me again_? I shrugged and pushed a bit harder, realizing that I was just in the capsule and that the bottom restraints were up and in place, unlike what I usually liked. "Oh... right." I muttered, the bright light that had been my dark dimming quickly as I realized just what had happened yesterday. My eyes closed and I sank back against the cushioned insides of the capsule as I sighed softly.

_I'd fought Ayumi... she'd gone maverick. Dammit_! I couldn't help but hit the inside portion of the capsule as I opened my eyes, looking to the top of the capsule before I calmed down a little bit. That flash of anger, all too easily apparent, escaped me, and I reached forward to the release latch for the restraints that had been set into place. _Mom and Dad're gone, too... if what Ayumi told me was the truth_. With another groan, I stepped out of the capsule and carefully stood up from the capsule, now drawing myself out of it before I looked around the room. There was nothing different about it. No damage on the walls... nothing. I blinked, and lifted my left arm, not feeling the cool air against my metal arm anymore, and found a pale patch of syntheflesh grafted into place, over the areas that had been obliterated by repeated blows from Ayumi's fists.

I touched the pale syntheflesh gently, wondering if it would simply be able to peel back without worrying about pain or anything. My touch on the skin was smooth and soft, and I shivered as I shook my head slowly. _No_, I told myself firmly. _ I wouldn't try it. I wouldn't do as I thought I might last night_, after the entire situation had defused. _My parents... and Ayumi, wouldn't want me dead. It was the virus that had killed mom and dad, and had corrupted Ayumi as well. To deny the virus meant that humans had to live. Human or not, I would deny the virus in any way I could think of_... And I smiled slowly as I came upon the realization of just how to do that.

_Activate Roy system_. I told the reploid control matix, and I felt a small ping in my mind as it responded, awakening the dormant system that remained attached to me. It was my subconcious now, basically, and I knew that it still held the pathways to commands that I would never want to use. "_RO1-Beta system now online. How might this system help you?_" it asked, and I smiled a little bit. It was definitely something that I could do in order to keep myself from ever entertaining such thoughts... ever again. _Roy, uninstall all commands and pathways regarding final shut down processes_, I told the system. It gave me a warning, to which I simple replied with the override command. I felt a slight loss of control for a moment as it did as was asked.

"_Override confirmed, removing final shut down sequences_." Roy said... and I couldn't help but think about an ancient warning message that had survived even to this day. "Do not remove the memory card or turn off system while saving is in progress," or something like that. I didn't know I said that aloud as I felt the pathways, ever so slight in my mind, were wiped out, and then there was a ping as the process was finished. "_Process finalized. Attempts to shut down self are now impossible without a reset of this system. RO1-Beta is now shutting down_." I was told, and then the voice in my mind was silent as I regained control of my systems once more.

I stretched slowly, smiling a little bit, though I knew a part of me was kicking me for even doing so. There was nothing more that I could do at this point... I am on my own. I can't rely on others to help me anymore. When I found a nurse come into the room, I smiled to her and even gave her a polite, "Good morning!" This seemed to floor the nurse, as she stood there, watching me for a moment. "What is the matter? Never seen a patient feeling good again?" I asked, and then she just giggled a little bit as she brought a small scanner over to me. She held a small cord with what looked a lot like a plug one might find on earphones, though the plug itself was only about half as long.

"I need to see your synchronization ratios, if you don't mind, sir." she asked, and I nodded slightly as I turned slightly. There was a port like that just behind and beneath my ear that had been installed for such a reason. I felt her fingers brush aside the bottom edge of my ear slightly, rather careful as I felt a small click and then information flowed from my mind to the port, to fill it with the information that was requested. It was one of the first things that I had learned, actually, and soon the nurse nodded slightly as she disengaged the plug from the port. "Thank you... looks like you should be cleared soon." she said, as she studied the results. "97.694 percent synchronization. I don't think that it will get a whole lot higher than that." she commented, and I nodded slightly.

_The sooner I am out of here_, I thought. _The sooner I'll be able to do something to repay the people who died, humans and reploids alike_. As the nurse went to a tablet PC in order to input the information, I asked her if my clothes were still around, or if I'd be stuck with a hospital gown. With a chuckle, she told me that a small amount of money had been set aside for the purchasing of new clothes for me when I was ready to leave, but I'd have to order them off of the internet. Besides, she commented slyly, my old clothes wouldn't fit too easily on my new body. We both had a small laugh as she left, and I sighed as I sat down on one of the chairs in my room. I had a lot to think about... _Just how best to avenge my parents, my friends... and Ayumi_?

-

**Author's Notes**: Well now, there's the third chapter. I wonder, did anyone see this coming? I do try to do little things that might provide a small twisting of the plot, especially as they revolve around a character's feelings. I added a bit of actual action in this one... But it was the first time I've ever tried combining actions and emotions in quite this way, so I hope it worked out well in the eyes of the reader.

**Responses**:

**Delta X**- Hey, no problem about the praise or anything. I'm glad you found the last chapter better than the first, and I hope you like this one as much as well.

**Iniora Nackatori**- I'm glad to hear that I fixed up whatever you meant by the 'choppy sentences.' If you ever remember what you meant by that, let me know. I'd like to improve. As for being based off of X4… actually, I started during X3. I'll be going through X4, however, and past it as well.

**Guest**- Thanks for the praise. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter just as much as the first.

**Zaisha**- Well now, you're the 200th reviewer I've had! Thanks for picking out the percent problem. I had forgotten that the percentage sign doesn't really make it through the upload process.

**Jennagurrrl**- Did you change your name from FarlandHunter? I personally preferred the original name, but that's just me. And did you just change your name again, this time to Meshia? How am I gonna keep track of the name changes?

**Genocideking Archfiend**- I know you didn't leave actual reviews for me, but I'm glad to have had you e-mail me about this and other fanfics of mine. No worries about muses yet... After all, I've yet to do anything to offend the new ones. I hope, though Alia has been somewhat annoyed that I made her Dragoon's navigator.


	4. Like a surgeon?

Chapter 4

**Summary**: When backed into a corner, you have two options. Kiss your ass goodbye, or fight back.

**Author's Note**: Well now, it seems that everyone that I've received reviews from so far have been so focused on Ayumi's death that they've missed two rather important things that are happening in the background. Hopefully, I'll be addressing those things in this chapter to bring everyone back up to date. Did I shock everyone with the way that I had Ayumi go maverick? Personally, I think it was a good way to go, if I managed to surprise you guys with that. Also, I apologize for the length of time that has gone unchecked between this and the last chapter. I've been busy with real life, as well as with Star Ocean 3 and Suikoden 4. Not to mention the other Mega Man games... hehe.

**Disclaimer**: Uh-uh. No way. Read the previous two chapters for my disclaimer, or go to my Bio. I'm tired of typing this thing in when the not-so-lazy can easily click a link, click my screen name, and read the damn thing. Capcom, if you're reading this, get over to my Bio for the disclaimer. As far as I can tell, that's all I need. And read my Terra series, too. Mega Man Legends 3 must be made!

-

Three days later

-

"You're free to go now, Arik. All your systems seem to have synchronized as well as can be expected... Almost set a few records, too." Lifesaver said to me, and I grinned slowly. I could finally leave! I was wearing a light blue t-shirt with a pair jeans on that made me at least feel like I was human again, at least in appearance. Not that many reploids looked much different, really, but then again, most reploids didn't have actual ears, and had large audio receptors on the side of their heads instead. Like Lifesaver had. Like... Ayumi had had.

My grin faded as I remembered Ayumi, and I simply nodded slowly. There wasn't anything left. I couldn't go to my family for help- most of them didn't like reploids, and I was more than half a reploid now. Their home probably wasn't even constructed to support a reploid body in many ways, I figured... "You'll be able to stay in the shelter here for a while, if you need to, but I certainly hope that won't be necessary for long, Arik. In with the few belongings we found of yours, you'll find a disk with some information for you. Job leads, system capabilities and specifications if you don't already know them... Things like that." the medical reploid commented, and I nodded again. I already had a good idea as to where I could go to find a place to stay, to work...

"But will they take me?" I muttered, speaking softly aloud. And would I be able to keep my mind on the job that I would get, if I do get it? I looked up and saw Lifesaver watching me, as if he may have heard me. When I saw the curiosity in his eyes, I shrugged slowly. "Would the Maverick Hunters allow me to join, do you think?" I asked him, and he chuckled softly before shrugging slowly. I wondered what that might have meant... Did he think that I might not be allowed to join? An interesting thought came to mind. _What if there's only two sections on the application for joining, one for humans and one for reploids_?

"That information is in the disk as well. The hunters are sponsoring a recruitment drive, and there's supposed to be a a joint recruitment center for the hunters and the repliforce going on for the next few days. Since Sigma was defeated by X last week, both are trying to build up their forces and implement Dr. Cain's newest directives... well, I think the repliforce is only taking reploids for their forces. You'd be a gray area. Your best bet would be with the hunters. I think Commander Zero is supposed to be there with Repliforce's Colonel tomorrow." Lifesaver told me, and I shrugged in response to that. Though I knew of them, I wasn't particularly impressed by what the other people in the world called 'heroes'.

"Personally? I'd rather meet Commander X." I mentioned, and we both laughed. Zero was great, but he had a reputation among humans of being a hothead, so to speak. _Ah well. Least I can do is head on over there today_, I thought to myself, and I smiled slightly. I heard the heavy footsteps of Lifesaver as he walked away, and I sighed as I closed my eyes. _This would be so much easier if someone was still around to help_... I told myself, a heavy sigh escaping me now as I opened my eyes and started walking towards the hallway. _Pick up my stuff at the front desk, and then get to the recruitment drive_, I considered. _But, where is it being held_?

-

The pink-armored reploid sighed as she went over the comatose remains of a maverick reploid that had been brought in the other day. Alia shook her head at the reploid before smiling a little bit- _strange_. _How had this reploid fought off the sigma virus for as long as it has_? Maverick though it had gone, it was not completely taken over... The Doppler anti-virus program had been a placebo... hadn't it? All known scans of it had found the program to be defective, or at the least, nearly useless against it. But somehow, this one still wasn't fully infected.

"Well now... just what keeps you intact, hm?" she asked the defunct reploid. It was kept on minimal life support, and had been physically dissected to keep the body from being controlled by the virus. Limbs had been disconnected, and were off in a pile. They'd been tested for the virus and had been positively identified as being infected. With a small chuckle, Alia continued to check the reploid. The memory bank was intact and somehow, parts of her matrices were still intact as well. The personality matrix was 64 percent fragmented, and the other matrix was fragmented and infected as well. The neural net of the reploid was practically gone... there was a possibility that the latest anti-Sigma virus program could help. The older ones had slowed the degradation of the reploid's matrices.

She'd been forced into a situation that no other existing reploids had been able to work with. A maverick reploid had been captured, and was now in their custody. Alia sighed as she continued to feed energy into the reploid body. She hadn't been told where it had come from; just that it had been stopped during its rampage shortly after X had managed to defeat Sigma. Again! She gave a moment to think about the first reploid in existence... the one whose design allowed even her existence to be. She'd heard that X hated fighting, hated ever having to destroy ones who had been spawned from his design, even if they were attempting to kill the humans who had designed them all and given them life.

With a shake, she brought herself out of her little reverie, forcing herself back to her job. Now, she had to try and do what she could with a limbless reploid existing on minimal life support. With a message sent out to the new mechanic over in the repair department, she'd have to wait for Douglas to make it over before she could do much more.

-

_Ah, it was a nice, bright day out today_, I thought with a smile as I walked out of the hospital. _It's too bad that everything that my family had owned was flattened by the destruction of the city... the electric bug would've been nice to drive right now_. I thought to myself, remembering the electric car that I had bought that was based upon a design that had been made back in the mid-1900s. With a shrug, I headed along the street and found myself watching the few other pedestrians who were out walking as well. There weren't any reploids, but humans out around here. That made me frown a little, as my footsteps continued along the sidewalk. I wasn't exactly a reploid, and thanks to my clothes, I wasn't being mistaken for one, either. I passed by a pair of kids who were walking quietly in the opposite direction, and I sighed softly.

_How many others could have the same problem I do now_, I wondered. _How could it be possible that I am the only one to have survived from even my own neighborhood... I knew that others had survived. The survivors probably left town to live somewhere 'safer'_, I concluded, as I accessed the information on the small drive that held it.. When I'd gotten the disc, I set it into the rather small bay that had been installed on my arm. Like an old USB port, I told myself- my parents liked antiques, and we had had ancient systems at our home. 286s, 386s, 486s and the somewhat better ones called Pentiums. _We'd even had a Lightech computer, in mint condition, before we'd had it put away into storage. I don't even remember where it was, but it's probably gone now_, I thought. I moved to lean against a pile of bricks, for this was part of the original city that once stood here before Doppler Town had been constructed.

I closed my eyes, letting the information fill my mind. I scanned through the documents until I came to the one with the information on where the recruiting drive was, and then I nodded as I saw it. A place had already been cleared out... some sort of old school auditorium or something, according to the layout. It wasn't the school that I had attended, but one that was a rival. How many of their students had been caught too? With a sigh, I set the information aside and pulled the drive from my arm before setting it into a coat pocket and headed towards the school. Fortunately, I kept a grid map of the area in mind, and cross-referenced the information to provide me the fastest route there other than a straight line.

I began walking again, moving at a quick pace. It was nice, not truly feeling a sense of weariness save for in my mind... for my legs just kept going at the same rate they usually do, instead of slowing down. I put myself on a sort of autopilot, enjoying the ride as I walked towards the auditorium where the information I was given had told me that the drive was at. I wouldn't even bother with Repliforce, if they didn't take humans. But the Maverick Hunters, I knew, did hire humans. One of my uncles had worked for the Maverick Hunters back when Sigma had been running it, before he went maverick. He'd been reassigned from the HQ before Sigma went maverick, but had been killed on the island when a group of mavericks took it over in the second half of Sigma's uprising only a year or two ago.

I did slow, however, as my mind wandered back to Ayumi. God, was there anything I could've done to save her? I couldn't help but to ask myself this as I continued to walk towards the school, though my mind was troubled enough to cause my walking speed to decrease by half. Unbidden, the scene that had been recorded flashed up and my face went red as I clenched my fists. I had attacked her... punched her in the head, four times. Kicked her before that, too! How could I call myself her friend? No friend attacks their friend, not for any reason. She may have gone maverick, but did that give me any real reason to attack her like that? My body shuddered as I forced myself to close the memory, my eyes returning to being able to see outwardly as I continued on my way, taking a left turn on the sidewalk. The auditorium was straight along this road, according to the map.

-

"I hate repair bays." came the gruff voice. A rather unhappy hunter had made this comment as he walked out from one such place on the base, an annoying burr in his repaired arm easily audible (to him) as he began walking away. The red-tinted Dragoon sighed as he attempted to work the kinks out on his own, despite the fact that he knew about it. It would take a day for his internal auto repair system to establish a full link and bring the arm to its full operational status. Suddenly, a warning alarm came into his mind, an increasing amount of annoyance coming to the fore as he looked behind him, back to the doorway. "What is... oh!" Magma's voice went from annoyed to surprised, and he backed up a little as he saw... the doorway that he'd just walked out of. But then he saw someone beside it.

The Dragoon found himself face to door before he looked down. The reploid was shorter than he was, he saw. It wasn't someone he knew personally, though they'd met on a few occassions before. Mostly in practice, however, and never anything else. Skirmishes between their units had found that they'd practically tied in operational capacity... but only when the reploid before him had not been upgraded. "Hello. Magma Dragoon, isn't it?" came the voice from the young looking reploid. The blue armor gave him away. As it had for the reploid's older siblings, who had not been heard of in many years. With a slight smile, the person whose voice had been heard stepped away from where he'd been leaning against the wall, and green eyes found their way to meet Dragoon's gaze.

"Commander X!" Dragoon exclaimed, surprised to see the famous hunter right in front of him. He had to admit, the old phrase that spoke of someone being taller on TV came to mind and was appropriate. For such a famous maverick hunter, the reploid looked all of a 17 year old human in a reploid's armor. The blue armored figure nodded in front of him, and the reploid who had been the basis of all designs of reploids after him shrugged slightly. Obviously, he didn't care for recognition, the dragon-like reploid thought.

"Come with me, won't you? We have to discuss your new assignment, Dragoon." the reploid said. X smiled a little- he'd like this, according to what he'd heard about this particular unit commander. A chance to work on his own for a while, in an environment that he could enjoy, no less. There was a possible maverick outbreak near a volcano that was in the same chain as the one that Flame Stag had holed himself up in. And since a full out assault on a place where mobility would be very difficult to come by, this would be perfect for a single melee specialist reploid. Dragoon smiled a little in his mind as he was given the details of the assignment, but it wasn't just because of that. He wanted to fight the best, one-on-one. But he knew that Zero might, but X wouldn't. It was known in the HQ that X didn't become a hunter because he wanted to be, but because someone had to be.

And that's why I want to fight him, Dragoon thought as he went over the details of the volcano slowly from what had been given him. A reploid who is the best at what he does, whether or not he wants to fight. If he doesn't want to fight, that just goes to show you how powerful the reploid truly was. At 100 percentbattle capacity, his reflexes honed in the strength of a fight. He saluted X, smiling, and X returned the same salute as the Dragoon walked away. X sighed softly as he walked away as well, unknowing that Dragoon's thoughts had turned against him. If only he could be like that on his missions... but no. X had wanted peace and only peace, ever. A life away and outside of fighting. With a sigh, the blue reploid found himself walking back towards his quarters as the Dragoon headed to the target range.

Two very different reploids- one built to be what he wanted to be, the other built to keep other reploids in check. One wanted never to fight while the other lives for it. And X would never know until it was too late just how much the other wanted to fight.

-

"Alright Zero, looks like you're about back up to full operational status again." came the voice of the head technician. The blonde-haired hunter grinned slightly as he nodded to the technician before checking his own internal systems. All green, he thought, including his reactor source. There'd been a nasty glitch in it ever since he'd been resurrected, but thanks to time, auto-repair systems, and millimeter by millimeter searching of his power core for imperfections, it had finally been fixed up. With a jump, the red hunter that even mavericks had come to fear found himself in the air before landing on his feet.

"Thanks Doc. I'll be headin' out. Let X know I'm going over to the Repliforce base to talk with the Colonel, okay?" he told the reploid, and the nod was all that was needed before the long-haired hunter disappeared into a beam of light. With a shake of his head, the medical reploid chuckled softly to himself and then looked to the ceiling. Doc? Close, but not quite. This particular 'doc,' as he'd just been called, knew better about Zero. Though he had very little that he could do internally for the maverick hunter he'd just repaired, Zero's mind was all too easy to read in some regards... especially these days.

"Gimme a break... Seeing the Colonel?" he asked quietly before smiling softly. "Seeing the Colonel's sister, ya mean." Zero had a few problems still- he couldn't lie worth a damn, and so he left it to others to cover for him. Other than his body structure itself, the damned reploid couldn't misguide a single person, human or reploid. Ever. With a grin, the reploid shook his head before heading out to answer a summons that had been sent to him a while ago from Alia. Douglas sent her a message, telling the female blonde-haired reploid that he was on his way. He'd been somewhat interested in the maverick that had been caught and dissected, but unable to do anything about his curiosity until now. Should be interesting, he told himself, and with a grin he packed up a crate with systems that Alia had described and said that he would need to bring.

-

"Hey, are you looking for that auditorium?" I heard a voice, and I looked to my right as a reploid came running up. It was a yellow one, kinda, well, fat and short. I watched as the reploid ran but then fell over, rolling for a foot or two before it managed to get back up onto its feet. _Looks like a fat male reploid_, I thought, as I walked over to the reploid to make sure he was alright. Not even a dent or scraped paint on the reploid's yellow-painted exterior.

"Are you alright?" I asked the reploid, and he nodded as he dusted himself off. The reploid wasn't wearing clothes... which was unusual, but fine, really. Just some sort of armor.

"Yeah, I'm fine... well, are you lookin' for that recruitment drive?" he asked, and I nodded slowly. Most everyone headed this direction seemed to be going into the auditorium, I'd seen. Humans and reploids alike, no less... and, I have to admit, a few were of the female variety of both kinds. Unfortunately, my mind couldn't just stay on those particular thoughts. Made me remember Ayumi...

"Yep, that's exactly where I'm headed." I replied, and the reploid smiled broadly. I couldn't help but to chuckle a little bit. The guy's smile was contagious! _How the hell did anyone manage to program something like that_? It was a marvel, but I didn't really care about how it had been done. _The fact that it had made the person who had managed it something of a genius, in my mind_.

"Well then, let's go. I'm called Double. What's your name?" he asked, and I shrugged as we started walking down the street down to the audiorium. No real harm in talking to this guy..._ he didn't seem too harmless, afterall_. Definitely not maverick. A maverick would have to be suicidal to come to a place where they were recruiting for the types of people to huin them down, after all.

"I'm Arik." I told him, and I grinned a little. "Lookin' to work for the Hunters? Or Repliforce?" I asked him, and he flashed a little grin in return to me at the name of the Repliforce. I figured that meant he was looking to work for the repliforce... but if what I'd heard about them was true, then they'd probably force the guy to get a restructuring of his basic body in order to fit 'regulations'.

"Repliforce? Nah, they'd probably want to remake me so I fit their own standards, ya know? I ain't gonna fit in with them, so maybe I'll have better luck with the hunters instead, eh?" he replied, and I nodded in agreement. Whoever had created the little tubby reploid had a sense of humor... probably never intended the guy to even join either the Hunters or the Repliforce. He seemed like a good enough guy, even if he was clumsy. _How did a Reploid become clumsy at all? I should ask Lifesaver_, I thought to myself, and I shrugged a little as I looked over towards the auditorium.

"Doesn't it seem unusual that there'd be a recruitment drive in this city, so soon after that uprising took place?" I asked, and Double shrugged as he looked up at me. _It probably would have made more sense if they'd held it in another city that wasn't so close to here_, I considered as he started walking to the auditorium, and I followed after the little yellow reploid.

"Nah. All the mavericks have been flushed from here, ya know. The news said that X and Zero did a real thorough job." the yellow guy answered, and I shrugged slightly. _Probably just my fears_. Double seemed to pick up on this, and I saw the look on his face. I could easily figure out that he was going to ask me a question, and after a second I was pretty sure as to what the question itself would be. "Did you lose a friend in the uprising?" he asked quietly after that short moment of consideration, and I slowly nodded. I was mostly a reploid now... if it wasn't for the fact that I was still susceptible to going insane from the teleportation processes, anyway, I couldn't really be detected as being even somewhat human.

"Yeah... she went maverick, too." I told Double, looking away from the reploid for a second. _Was that a grin I saw flash on his face_? I turned to look at him again, and the grin I thought I had seen was gone. "Had to stop her, too. The Hunters arrived too late." I finished, and started walking faster as I felt my body grow heavy and sluggish. _Ayumi_, I told myself, and I sighed softly as I looked to the ground. _Dammit_._ If only this had been avoided... if that damned beetle hadn't attacked! But no, it was no one's fault but my own, truly_.

"I'm... sorry to hear that, Arik." I heard the reploid say, and then he sighed softly. "I shouldn't have asked. I think everyone lost someone here." he said, and I nodded slowly in agreement. He was probably right. And I'd lost even more than what the reploid knew, I told myself, even as we found ourselves nearing the auditorium finally. The sounds of yelling and angry voices snapped me out of my thoughts as I looked up, and I'm pretty sure Double did the same as well. Human protestors, I thought to myself. Why would humans be protesting a recruitment drive for the hunters and the repliforce? These organizations were their only chances of survival against the maverick threat, after all.

"Shit. It's the anti-tech groupies." Double said, shaking his head as he tried to make himself scarce by hurrying into the auditorium. I smirked as I walked forward as well, and then past the yelling groupies who were carrying picket signs made out of wood and cardboard. _Some things never change_, and I smiled a little as I walked past them. In appearance, I was more human than any reploid, after all, that the anti-techies would ever think. They went naturalist, and I was force to go techie. Besides, their attention was held back by human and reploid police officers who were attempting to keep the peace, so to speak, in this public place.

Past them I went, and into the auditorium which was being guarded by a fair number of repliforce members. I remembered the TV report from after I was awakened, attached to my new body. _Most of the Maverick Hunters had been mentally disabled during their recharge cycles_, I told myself. Hence, the reason for the recruitment drive. _Obviously_. Of course they'd start here, too. After all, many people lost their loved ones and friends in Gravity Beetle's attack, and the entire city had been destroyed. I looked towards the skyline, that once held skyscrapers and tall buildings...

And now there was nothing but sky instead. It was almost a little unnerving, I considered, before I turned around to continue into the auditorium, where I'd look up the Hunter's registration booth. There was already a long line of people, including Double ahead of me as well. A few seemed to be a little wet, or dirty... _a possible result of passing by the 'groupies' outside_, I realized. With a glance to the ceiling in exasperation, I shook my head before closing my eyes. This procedure could take quite a while.

-

The door slid aside and in walked someone with heavy footsteps. The person entering the room winced at the bright lights before his optics could adjust, and he set down his heavy burden after a moment before walking over to the table with someone upon it and someone looking into that someone from beside it. There were a bundle of parts... no, wait. Arms and legs, he determined, as his optics determined the digits of the hands and the surface of feet on the limbs. There were scanners, parts, and power cables snaking into the body that was on the table. The reploid on the table looked to be deactivated, but thanks to the message he'd received from the woman who was looking into the body on the table, he knew better than that.

"So, what's the verdict?" he asked, his voice hopeful as he looked to the old shell of one of the first generation reploids, of which very precious few had survived the previous uprisings. The blonde woman looked up from the person on the table with a look of surprise as she noticed the one who had entered the room. She hadn't heard his entrance or detected him at all! The green armored reploid chuckled softly before shrugging a little as he walked over, linking his scanning systems with the ones in the lab. A short whistle was given as the diagnostics came to him, and he smiled slightly. "Well, well... a 16 data recovery, and the virus is at a standstill? Congrats, Alia. That means you've managed a new record, but we probably won't be able to get much more recovered than that. Not without deleting the whole thing entirely, or wiping out this reploid's processor cores.

"Oh, shut up Douglas." she replied, a growl low in her throat as she frowned at him. "I know that! But if we had someone to create a few new anti-virus programs, we might be able to recover more. All I can do now is send in program after program in order to fend off the damned thing and claim some of her processes back." she informed her colleague, and Douglas nodded, walking over to the deactivated body of the reploid. Entirely on life support, he found. Not even enough energy being fed to allow the reploid to even blink an eye. Quietly, Alia looked back to the female reploid on the table before closing her eyes and speaking to the other again, quietly. "I think we can try to recover her, at this point. Her mind will be fragmented, of course, but we can partition it. As for the virus, we can just as easily bypass it in order to retain most of her memories."

Douglas shook his head at Alia's words. "Even if we did, she'll need a whole new body. And the matrices will need to have power supplied at full strength if we're going to even try this. The virus always has a chance to break through the anti-virus programs, too. Damned thing evolves to defeat each one, after all. And besides, even if she does survive the procedure, she'll never be able to go back to living a normal, standard life. At least talk with Dr. Cain to see if we should even attempt it!" he told Ilia, to which she shook her head as she placed a hand on the reploid's head.

"She doesn't really have that kinda time, and neither does Cain. We both know that. And besides, if we manage this, then at least she'll have a chance to live again, as herself... even if her past will be a very difficult subject to bring up. Unless she has backups of her memories someplace else, that is." the pink armored reploid told him, and she heard his exasperated sigh. She couldn't help but to crack a small smiled as she swept some of the female reploid's hair back somewhat, even if it had covered the area that had been seemingly scraped off of her mind. How that had happened... well, according to the report she'd received from her old friend Lifesaver, it had been when someone named Arik attacked the maverick before he'd arrived to knock her out.

"Oh, great. So we're left to make the decision, are we? Just perfect." he said, more than enough sarcasm in his voice to make Alia chuckle a little. He grinned slightly before looking to their patient, the diagnostics showing that the virus was beginning to assert itself again. "Better add in another patch of anti virus programs now." he said, and Alia nodded as she set the next drive into the head port on the reploid's neck, and then triggered the button to turn the system on, bringing the drive to life as the last batch of anti-virus programs were sent in. "So we have about five minutes or so before this treatment fails... we'd better get everything ready." he said aloud, and Alia grinned as she motioned over to the machine that she had activated already.

"Been there, done that. We might be able to save another 3 percent of her matrices before it's too late, and the virus begins to take over again. By the time we've got everything set up, she'll be at the critical state. Let's get to work." she said, even as Douglas nodded and came around to the top of the female reploid's skull. Alia looked away as she saw him reach towards the girl's hair, and there was nothing more she could do than to shudder as she heard that sickening sound of flesh being ripped out, hair and syntheflesh and integration patterns with the nervous system. The reploid on the table, though mostly deactivated, gave a slight jump, almost imperceptibly so, before lying still again.

"I hate that..." Douglas muttered to himself, even though he was certain that Alia had heard him say it. He didn't mind- he just hated the fact that they had to rip into another reploid's skull, where the first generation reploid's main matrices were stored, fish out both of the delicate matrices that were kept there and along the spine... and have to do some sort of transfer to another body of sorts. It was a delicate surgery that could take far too long to finish because of the nature of the fix. He sent a message to the staff of the repair department that he had business to take care of for the hunters elsewhere. This had only worked for reploids once or twice before, and the success rate was only 22 percent. "You know, if this works, I'll get us both dinner sometime." he commented, and Alia shook her head slowly at that little joke before turning around to bring herself to try and help the reploid who specialized in repair.

-

"What in the world..." came a voice that the two couldn't hear, for he was in a different room of the headquarters, though not too far away from the action that the two were bringing to bear on the limbless reploid on the table. He'd heard about the maverick that had been captured from Dopplertown at around the time he had been inside Sigma's newest fortress, but only now had he the time to see what was being done. _They'd dissected the maverick_! _Unbelievable_! The one watching the procedure then played back their conversation between one another and then nodded, the shock on his face dissolving into understanding as he learned just what they were doing.

"Ah..." and he shook his head slowly. X had never really had the chance to see anything like this happen before, and he winced as he watched what was going on on his screen. The security cameras were in place and working perfectly, but the blue prototype knew that he'd have to have a word with these two new recruits before long to determine what exactly they were doing with the maverick, and how he should respond. "Better than destroying them." he told himself as he crossed his arms, standing there as he watched that room more than the rest. He'd been ordered to relax by Dr. Cain after arriving back at the HQ, but since the chief of the security room was a human and had called in sick, X found himself here to take over for a while before the next shift would arrive to take over. Besides, after an uprising like that, Sigma probably wouldn't show for a while!

The commander of the 17th unit sighed as he sat in the chair, watching over the consoles. The transfer of procedures and such hadn't occurred yet, and so the navigators that had been in training in Repliforce and were now in the Hunters were stuck only directing individual units rather than several at once. He wasn't exactly in possession of the fastest processors, nor was he made for combat. Perhaps doing this might be fine for now, he thought, even as a small smile graced his face just in time to disappear as he felt a small boiling in his stomach when he glanced to the screen that had Alia and Douglas in it. Only one word came to mind as he saw the work they were doing, and he couldn't help but to wonder why Dr. Cain had ever wanted to do that sort of thing. "Ew."

He watched, though. As he had when the first reploid had been built by Dr. Cain. As he had when Dr. Cain created Sigma, before he became the Maverick Virus. X felt pity for the limbless female reploid on the table that the two hunters had begun working upon, because he knew of her generation of reploids better than he knew of any others that had been created since. He even knew the model that she had begun her life as, even though she'd obviously modified herself since the day of her creation. They were trying to save her from corruption by the maverick virus- according to the statistics that he'd managed to have the computer in the room send him, there was a good chance that her core processes would be salvaged. The first matrix, the primary, was only about 48 percent contaminated by the virus.

Looks like they were going to try a modified save of what had happened with Zero, he realized, and the seemingly young reploid shook his head slowly. That had been a fluke. The way that those two were working, it would likely take a miracle. It took a moment for X to decide what to do, and he sighed as he pulled up his left arm, sending a command to his communicator that would link him with whoever he needed to speak with. At this very moment, that was someone who needed to know what was going on here. Should these two reploids pull off the miracle, Cain would have questions for them...

"Dr. Cain?" the advanced robot asked, and he smiled as he heard an answer from the foremost archaeologist-turned-Reploid creator. The man that he thought of as his father, almost more so than his own creator Dr. Light, had answered. "We've got a situation down here in the repair wing. Meet me at room 3E, will you?" he asked of the man who had activated him, and there was an affirmative answer before the link was shut down. X smiled still as he left the room, heading down towards the surgery room that the reploids were working in, and he couldn't help but to pull up dossiers on the two. Douglas was new, a recruit as of a month or two ago who'd been out on leave the day that Doppler had attacked the HQ. Alia had been on base but awake during the attack, and was one of the few who'd managed to survive unscathed by the mechaniloids that had been used and let in by Mac, the maintenance officer of the base at the time.

X sighed as he remembered Mac. They'd nearly been friends, but then he went maverick. _How had he hidden the signs of the virus so well, until that point_? "Damn, Mac... you just had to do it, didn't you?" he muttered under his breath. X couldn't help but to wish that he could've done something to help his friend to regain his senses before Zero had destroyed him, but what was done was done. _Sometimes... sometimes, I wish I'd never been activated_, he told himself, a slouch in his shoulders forcing X to look to the ground for a moment before winding up outside the room that Alia and Douglas were using to work their magic on the otherwise dead reploid inside with them. _If I hadn't been activated, reploids would never have been born into the world... and we wouldn't have to suffer as plague carriers like this_.

-

**Author's Note**: Yeah... a little short, maybe? Anyway, this turn of events should be of very little surprise to most people who are reading this fic. I'm attempting to stay close to the storyline of the series, though I have to admit that Alia, Douglas, and Lifesaver shouldn't be anywhere near MHHQ at the time of X3 or X4. Then again, who says that they were built after the events of X4, except for maybe Signas? The way I see this might be a bit different from what you guys think, but I hope that you don't mind if I say that Ayumi probably ain't dead. In fact, I've been warned that I may even be flamed because she might survive the virus! But then, I personally think that if Erico can do it (read his fics!), then I can too. Besides, it's not like I'm simply resurrecting someone. That just takes the fun out of everything.

Oh, yes. I even added X and Zero to this, didn't I? Hehe, what do you think about their personalities so far? I'm still working them out right now, which is why I haven't allowed them much 'screen-time.' Besides, being busy enough to get far in Star Ocean 3 and beat Suikoden 4... well, I've finished Suikoden 4 within a week, and Star Ocean 3 should be done within a little while as well, hopefully.

**Responses**:

**Delta X**- Hey, no problem about the praise or anything. I'm glad you found the last chapter better than the first, and I hope you like this one as much as well.

**Annonymous Reviewers**- (You know who you are) Thanks for the reviews!

**Lady Pamie**- Thanks for reviewing... what, two or three times now for the same chapter? Heh, no need to post a review every time you change your name. I do hope you decide on a name soon, though!

**Zaisha**- No, to answer your question. I'm usually a lot nicer to my original characters, but I didn't want people to thing I was going to pull a Gary Stu out of this one.

**Jazzerman**: Thanks for the review. I do try to write well, most of the time. I did check out your MM/Sonic crossover. Seems to be pretty good… I don't remember if I reviewed it yet, though. I'll be sure to double-check a little later.

**Chaos Emerald Guardian**: Don't worry about a thing, as I do plan on continuing this story until it's finished. I have a long way to go as a result. Hehe.


	5. We can rebuild

Chapter 5

**Summary**: The foot goes here, the hand goes there... Wait a second! Why not have more than two of each! No, the buster's not supposed to go THERE! Sheesh!

**Author's Note**: Yeah, if you couldn't guess, this chapter has a lot to do with Ayumi. I began this chapter shortly after uploading the fourth...and as of the time of writing this, I have yet to receive any reviews on the fourth chapter. Anyway, I certainly hope everyone liked the last chapter. I wonder, does anyone dislike the route I'm taking to avoiding the maverick virus as far as it goes with our good ol' Ayumi? Because if ya do, let me know, and I'd be happy to entertain alternative ideas that haven't been done already. Most of my information about the internal workings of reploids, as well as the virus itself, is taken one part from Reploid101, one part from one of Erico's old fics that describe MMX technology, and one part my own take on the whole thing. So far, I've yet to see anyone take the technical and mechanical route of bypassing the virus... So, there it is.

Keep in mind that because this series does take place **_before_** X5, there's no mention of the airborne virus' that abound in that game. Or even knowledge of it. Even for Sigma, it takes time to build nanobots with thrusters that can keep them in the air long enough to get them places, and yet not be noticed. To spread a disease, a virus, there needs to be a carrier medium- and since computer viruses can be blocked by firewalls and anti-virus programs, Sigma has to go for a more direct route, of course. That's my opinion on the matter. Suggestions are always welcome: but only through e-mail. Strangely enough, I haven't had any suggestions recently, and my e-mail's been getting filled with spam. Thank goodness for spam blockers.

Also, if you started with this chapter, I go into third person whenever I'm not dealing through the main character's point of view. When it's the main character, I'm in first person perspective. Italics are thoughts and thought processes, as the case may be. If you read the second chapter, you should know what I mean by that. Good ol' Roy. I decided that the fic needed just a small touch of old-school from my own namesake. I'll provide a little background on Roy at the end of the chapter.

In MHHQ

"RAM filters?" a female voice called out, and there was an affirmative male voice that answered back. The answer made the woman smile, as she connected the plug, and the cable between the filters and the three virus filters glowed into life. They'd been working at this for a while, and had managed to recruit even more help from wandering technicians as they needed to. Two other technicians had joined in, both humans and therefore immune to the virus that resided still within the defunct reploid shell that remained on the table. However, the surgery had been successful, if not at least painstakingly slow and nearly impossible if it hadn't been for the help of a certain individual who was now taking a nap in the corner.

Old Dr. Cain rested in a chair, resting his eyes after a grueling several hours of making sure that the connections that had been established would be enough to keep their subject alive. In spirit, that is, if not physically. The woman who had spoken looked to the shell that had once housed a living and healthy reploid with a look of disappointment. It was done for, she knew. The virus had invaded the remainder of the processor matrix while the primary matrix had been unhoused and the connections to certain areas, here and there on the secondary, were cut. For the most part, the primary matrix had survived, and testing had shown that the power had remained stable throughout the entire process to it. New parts had been added after Cain had given his approval for the project, and even X had helped by providing security for the room as the entire scene continued.

Alia smiled as she connected the cable to the matrix of the reploid that had survived. The personality matrix, that which allowed the reploid its own ways and memories, had been removed. The second matrix, the outer shielding for the primary, was a write off, and the primary now was hooked to a battery of processors that allowed the matrix that had survived to run at full speed. Though not truly conscious, the matrix of the reploid was still quite alive and retaining much of its life experience and memories in general, despite the forceful removal of it from its original body. If it hadn't been for Cain, the capability to save the reploid would have been at less than 10 percent. With his help, it had been possible, for the reploid had been based solely off of his designs. The reploid known as Ayumi lived still, barely in a state that one could call living, but she did.

She had been a first generation reploid. Her shell had been durable and much like a human in shape, size, and practically every other way, as all the original generation reploids were. But now, without a body for her mind, there was nothing much left for the reploid. _And the costs of this_? Well, Cain was footing the bill this time at least. "Okay, feed the power in now, Douglas. Do we have those reploid parts in here, or are they still being made?" she asked the technician of the body, and Douglas shook his head in response to her query. Alia sighed softly as she looked to where the reploid's primary was being held, suspended in a magnetically bottled current of reploid blood. It was the only way to keep it powered well enough until a new body was ready for her mind.

"Sorry Alia, I've been kinda busy here. And to order these parts, well..." he trailed off, and Alia rolled her eyes. She could tell what he was about to say. "Well, it would cost more than it would for me to simply go in and make new ones for her instead. Give me a few days, and I'll have the shell ready. As for the wiring, we have enough left around to create several of her or one giant-sized reploid. What we'll have the real trouble with is her power supply." his voice grew heavier throughout the explanation, and Alia blinked for a second as she accessed the critical information about the microfusion generators. Cross-referencing it with the first generation reploid bodies brought up an interesting point that Douglas was now speaking of.

"If we don't get the right frequency for the power generator, we'll cause a surge in the primary matrix. This Ayumi? She'll be a clean slate after something like that. Absolutely no personality or memories... We'll be lucky if that's all that'd happen. There could also be a short somewhere in the system, and then that'll be all she wrote. This place won't look half as clean as Doppler Town after that." he finished, and Alia confirmed that fact with the article that she'd been scanning. She sighed and nodded, closing down the article as she looked over to the matrix that was being held in the containment field. With a nod, she looked to the humans who were taking a small break, and smiled a little bit before that faded from her face.

"Destroy the body and body parts... We don't want that virus escaping out among us." she told them, and the humans nodded as they took the parts and put them carefully into the crate that had been brought for just such a reason. Once the surgery had been finished, a force field had been erected around the body, and then a small EM pulse had been emitted into it, effectively destroying the electronics and shutting down the prototype generator within completely. Still, even with that done, no one would take chances with the possibility of being infected by the Maverick Virus. "Go ahead and get started, Douglas. Try to make her a bit more advanced for her sake, won't you?" she asked the green reploid, who simply grinned as he nodded in response.

"Of course! You know how I work, Alia. I'll get a few others to help me out with this too. Who knows, maybe we'll be finished in two days with the shell and we can start with the wiring?" he commented as he followed the humans out of the room. It took a moment for them to leave, and then heavy steps made themselves known to Alia's sensors before she could turn from looking at the doorway. Of course, they belonged to the one who had elected to become security for the project that had come up. Alia quickly saluted the commander, and he just waved her hand down and shook his head.

"Please, none of that here. I'm not officially on duty at the moment, alright?" X told her, and Alia nodded curtly before looking to the table and then to the matrix that seemed to almost be floating in the reploid blood. X did the same thing, and shuddered a little as he saw the matrix floating within. "Do you really think that the reploid in there is going to be able to be saved, Alia?" he asked the pink-armored reploid as he came up to stand beside her. Alia glanced to him, smiling a little from the sound of hearing her name come from him, and she nodded slowly in response.

"Very few reploids have ever survived the virus in any way, shape, or form, X. This one was still fighting it when she was deactivated and brought here. I think she has enough will to live that it is definitely possible, as long as her new body and microfusion generator are readied soon. The degradation of the primary matrix will begin within 24 to 48 hours, even while stuck in that." she commented, shaking her head now as she motioned to the tank that held the matrix within. The reploid still survived in it, completely oblivious to the outside world. "As long as we can get everything done and ready for her within that time, there's a 72 percent chance of the reploid to have a normal life of operations, without any sort of military-grade upgrades. After that, her chances drop by 3 percent an hour." Alia said, the sound of sadness in her voice.

"Well... that is true, Alia. But if you guys think she can be saved, by all means, do it. I want to meet the reploid who can fight off that virus for as long as you say she had. When our patient is operational again, let me know, okay?" he told Alia, and she turned to face her superior officer. Quickly, she saluted as she smiled at him, and X jokingly returned the salute as he smiled in return. "Leave off on that crap, won't you? I'm not your commander after all. And like I said, I'm not officially on duty right now." he told her, and he shook his head as Alia stiffled a giggle that threatened to escape her. _Wait 'til Iris heard about this_, she thought to herself, and Alia left the room quickly to take a break from this rather large operation.

Once Alia had left, that meant that X remained within the room, alone with the reploid primary matrix and the snoozing Dr. Cain. At the sight of his surrogate father, X smiled a little, and then he walked over to the containment field to watch the floating matrix within. It was so unlike the human brain, he thought. Much smaller and more compact in size, though it was a bit longer because of the memory space required. Little bits and pieces floated within as well, and X could tell that there would have to be plenty of surface work and internal connections placed to get the matrix to work well in it.

"Get better soon, my friend. I'd truly like to figure out how you staved off the virus for so long." he whispered to the motionless and unresponsive matrix inside the containment field. With a small smile, he walked away and sat down beside Dr. Cain, closing his eyes as the prototype rested there. He'd be there when Dr. Cain awoke, and then they would have several things to talk about when it came to this project.

Recruitment Drive

"Alright, let's see here... you're a cyborg?" the question was asked by the recruiter, and I nodded slowly to the human who sat at the desk. It had taken hours to go through the line, but I finally made it. Double was off talking with another recruiter, according to the last time I managed to look around before being called to this desk. The man nodded slightly, looking over the information that had been taken by a port in my arm, just above the junction of my wrist. "Are you capable of handling teleportation stress?" he asked, and I shook my head slowly. _That, I don't know_.

"I wish I knew, but as far as I've been told about this body, I don't have the shielding around my noggin' to withstand teleportation stress." I replied, wishing I could have said a definite yes or no to the question. The man nodded again, checking off the possible requirements I had listed to form a kind of resume. My skills, what I'd learned, how much schooling I'd had. That sort of thing had become rather important, of course, whenever it came to job placement. Of course, when it came to becoming a hunter, there were many jobs available, either to become a maverick hunter or one of the support personnel instead.

"Why did you choose to join the hunters?" was the next question that was asked, and I could tell that the man, though listening, was preoccupied with the list before him with the possible places within the organization that I could be placed into. It was a decent question, but I wasn't about to respond by saying 'revenge.' _That was cliched, of course, and also not something to say that would be very smart, either. It was probably an often enough heard question, however, considering that the hunters did hire humans_.

"Well, to try and stop people from getting hurt by mavericks, like I was... like Ayumi had been." I said quietly, looking to the desk. The man across from me finally took a moment to look at me and nod slowly at my response. I sighed softly and then looked back up to the man with a small smile. "I can't stand that virus, actually. Because of that Gravity Beetle, I got turned into a cyborg. My friends and family are mostly gone, too." I told him, and he nodded again. I didn't mention Ayumi, though. _That was still far too painful for me to even mention yet. I'd attacked and hurt my only friend that I'd had left! I even took the syntheflesh off the side of her skull, scraped hair and syntheflesh clean off with my fists_!

"I see. Well, you do have a fairly useful list of skills that we can use here, mister Silwat." the man said. "Reploid repair, minor to moderate level. A small amount of programming. Sensor analysis as well, and you seem to be integrated with your systems at a rate that is above average for a cyborg. And the fact that you're immune to the maverick virus is a plus as well. I would have to say that I could let you join the hunters, but I really cannot say in what capacity quite yet." he told me, and I nodded slightly. _So, most likely, I have a job_. I told myself this as I smiled a little bit. "But, we shall have to test your systems and your control over them before we can fully decide where you'll fit in best. Either as a support personnel, most likely, or perhaps as even a hunter if your systems can handle everything that is thrown at them." the man said, as if challenging me. Daring me to go ahead and sign up to become a hunter.

I didn't take the bait, however. I don't fall for that sort of a rise all that easily, after all. "If I could become a hunter, I'd most likely have to worry about my power supply, now wouldn't I? It isn't like I can just simply equip a buster cannon of some sort like most reploids can. If I lose too much energy from my power generator, I'm as good as dead." I replied, and the man nodded slowly. Had he forgotten that fact, perhaps? _Well, he knew it now_, I considered as I watched and waited to see how he would respond. I suddenly felt a bit tired, from all the walking and talking with this man... or perhaps it was simply boredom, combined with most of my walk and the wait in the line that I had been in.

"This is true, though thanks to recent advances from Cain Labs we can offer an overhaul of you power generator to be the equivalent of a microfusion generator like most reploids, as well as military-grade upgrades to your overall life support and mental shielding, mister Silwat." he told me. _Lifesaver hadn't told me anything about that- most likely_, I thought, _because he knew I was going to be paying quite a lot for the remainder of the bills that I had already from the operation_. Then he went on. "Cain Labs also has experimental mind shielding that can buffer a human's mind from the teleportation stress that occurs if some sentient organic tissue is transported. I would not suggest that option quite yet, but you will likely be notified some other time as to its effectiveness and whether or not it is available to you to have installed."

I nodded at his words, smiling a little. _What would teleporting like a reploid or robot feel like? I'd wondered about it for such a long time... _"Well, where do I sign as far as joining the hunters then, sir?" I asked amiably, and the man smiled in return as he disconnected his datapad from my dataport, turning it to him to punch in a few things before a contract was presented to me upon it. I scanned it quickly and processed the information, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the pay was rather good while working for the maverick hunters. Even better, I considered, when I found that the contract itself contained no loop holes (how that had happened, I may never know!) or any fine print that I found to be a bit too annoying. I didn't even see anything I could disagree with, and I nodded as I wrote my name on the digital contract with the stylus pen.

"There will be a file made available to you on request of this contract. You will need to report to the Maverick Hunter headquarters in Japan by a week from today. We shall cover the costs of having you flown there, mister Silwat. Also, you may be contacted by one or two maverick hunters to provide some early testing to check your aptitude for the different positions that are available at the moment." the man said as he stood, holding his hand out to me. I smiled still as I stood as well, shaking the full human's hand carefully before releasing my grip upon his hand. _I figured that this would be the case... but to go to the headquarters_, I considered, and I turned away to walk out of the small room that we had been in. "Please send in the next applicant, if you would?" the man called out, and I looked over my shoulder and nodded to him before I continued out the door that opened for me.

I passed the line that was still formed, and tapped a female ani-reploid's shoulder lightly, bringing her out of a short-period power restore mode. _A nap mode_, I thought, even as I informed her that the man I had spoken with was now ready for her. She smiled to me, blinking once or twice to recalibrate her optics before heading in that direction. Hm... based on a cat of some sort, I figured, as I watched the tail sway behind her dark skinned body. _Some sort of panther, perhaps_? I shrugged and continued walking off to the entrance, and then past the anti-techies that were still outside as they protested, though much fewer in number now. Quite a few were out cold on the street, and I shook my head as I walked past them. I heard the sound of electricity, and I looked over my shoulder as I saw a reploid police officer with some sort of stun buster there and two protestors now shaking slightly upon the ground.

_Three laws my ass_, I thought. Not even the world could say that reploids aren't allowed a sense of freedom and the ability to protect themselves, even from humans, without killing one. Of course, I was in that gray area, as Lifesaver had told me. With a shrug, I turned away and headed back to the hospital, planning on catching a short rest cycle before trying to find some way to better myself and my skills before I headed off to Neo-Tokyo. "Better pick up some Japanese." I muttered to myself, and I shook my head slowly. It would be a long plane trip, too, going from the midwest of the United States to the once-called 'Far East.' I smiled a little, knowing that I could retain the information I read now much more easily, even if I didn't fully integrate it mentally. _A picture perfect memory is a wonderful thing_.

The inner recesses of a beleagured mind.

It was dark in here... so very dark. Memories flooded her mind, as they had earlier while fighting the virus. It seemed to have stopped now- attacking her other systems, perhaps? She couldn't tell. It was deathly quiet, too. _Perhaps... perhaps the virus had taken her over, forced her into a partition of her mind and waited for her to give up_? Though she couldn't talk, she could think. And remember. It kept her mind off of how she had attacked her best human friend. _Arik_, she thought to herself, and many images floated up. Not full length memories like she'd pulled up so often before, but simple still-pictures, like what was once used before she was created. She remembered while they had studied together, the pictures making her smile mentally.

Those thoughts brought up the pictures of his attacking her, however. She'd wanted him to do it, but part of her hoped he wouldn't. He'd been suspended in the air in front of her, and she vaguely recalled that her hands had been wrapped aruond his throat, squeezing. Bending metal and syntheflesh, constricting his throat and air cooling system causing her friend to be choked. And then she winced, remembering the kick that he had given her. A sharp pain in her side had caused her to release him from her grasp, and he dropped to the ground. This, she remembered fully, and the full memory played back.

She'd regained some control over herself. _She managed to beat the virus back, somehow, and even got to speak with Arik before it tried to swallow her mind whole again_. Her memories played, clogging her processors as best she could with them, but the virus began to catch on. Slowly, the virus crept in on her, taking over her body and cutting off her connection with her limbs in order to take control. It even took control of her voice, and all this in the time it had taken for Arik to get some good hits in on her skull in an attempt to defeat her body. But the virus knew the capacities of a first generation reploid better than one might think, and it forced her to rise, to goad the young man that she'd attacked already and who had attacked her in turn. Then, as she remembered rearing back to force a punch at her changed friend, the virus screamed in pain in her mind and her body had fallen forward. **SURVIVE**. The word seemed to pound into her mental capacity as this took place.

By that time, she couldn't see. Couldn't hear or feel anything. She had been disassociated with most of her system, save for her processors and matrices. It was to these that she sent her memories, to keep her processors busy for fear of the virus taking complete control through them. She fought them for a long time... or at least, it felt to be as such. Her chronometer had been taken early, the internal clock ticking against her as she fought the impeding darkness in her mind. It was a lot like a bonfire against a blizzard, and somehow the bonfire had been kept lit, though the blizzard claimed more and more of the heat required to keep it alive. She attacked back, using memories and thoughts of her own to remain warm, to keep back the cold darkness that had been invading her. **INFECT**. It was this word that was forced against the bonfire that she had lit and managed to keep alive.

It nearly had her, when the cold and the storm subsided, and the sounds of the blizzard died away. The virus was... gone? It was difficult to tell. Her thoughts were slow now, as if she had become numb. She could see, hear, feel, and sense nothing at all. Nothing, save for her memories. They had been the only things to keep her alive, to keep her sane and safe from the virus that had attacked her. And she had neutralized it, for the time being at least. There wasn't even the sensation of pain, either. Just a numbness that she couldn't decide whether or not was her own. **DESTROY**. This word was weak, had been weak. It tainted her thoughts, instances of watching others destroyed or killed playing through her mind. Killing and hurting people inside the hospital. The monorail wreck only weeks before. The twisted and mangled bodies of humans and reploids alike, and the nearly destroyed condition of her only friend, in her arms, as he had been taken away from the scene to a hospital.

And so, Ayumi huddled there, in the recesses of the mind left to her, as the outside world continued on. Stuck inside her own mental faculties, with no escape, though desperately she wanted to be able to do something- anything- at all. _It's only a matter of time_, she thought, before she would shut down. If the virus had taken over, then it would probably go ahead and destroy her sometime soon, when it felt like it. The screeching voice that she had heard during the storm that had been outside the bonfire of her creation had taunted her, and it remained in her memories for quite some time, telling her that it was pointless to resist. All she needed to do was **survive**. And **infect**. And **DESTROY**. Was that something she would try to deny herself forever?

The answer she gave herself- the part of her still existing, somehow, against all odds. That answer was a resounding "**_yes!_**"

A day later

"Damned thing..." the green reploid muttered. To himself mostly, even as he shaped and molded the metal that he'd acquired in order to create the shell of the female reploid that was to be rebuilt. From first generation to newest, the reploid race had evolved by leaps and bounds... and accidents, of course. With a sigh, Douglas looked at the schematics in his mind, modifying and fixing up certain areas. For instance, first generation reploids had very few of the curves that made female reploids look like female humans. That was immediately fixed in his revised plans. A combination of first and tenth generation systems, Ayumi's new torso had already been created with the information in his mind. The legs were being made by two others, and he had been in charge of her arms.

_And that was the problem_, Douglas thought. He'd never had to make a civilian reploid body before. Without buster conversion parts and strengthening the arm structure, what was the point? _I'm a mechanic and repairman, not a damned inventor_, he told himself, and with a sigh, he did what he knew how to do. Of course, this meant that she'd be born practically into the Maverick Hunters as a result- no one would allow a reploid with a buster to live among humans without some sort of special consideration. _But considering her immediate past? No chance in hell_. The body was already nearing completion, and with the strengthening of the shell and internal compartments, he knew that this reploid would be much more advanced than she had been in years.

Using the casting process that was often used to create parts for certain units, such as repair limbs and such, he managed to start work on the shell for Ayumi's arms. Pouring the liquid metal into the molds, he nodded to himself as he knew it would take quite a while before it would cool into something usable and workable. On the reploid's torso shell, he began to work on the wiring now, installing the parts. A microfusion generator that was wirelessly linked to the primary matrix already, working on finding a suitable frequency that would match the power needs of it without destroying the fragile mind that had been left suspended in the containment field. The wiring that led from the torso and the waist portion were dead as well at the moment, unpowered to keep them safe from any sort of integration as of yet. Ayumi's skull, based somewhat upon the original that had been on her body, was being manufactured solely by Cain Labs, and would arrive later today or tomorrow at the latest.

They were upgrading so much of her processors and capabilities with this new body, he knew, and Douglas smiled a somewhat as the little LCD panel that was connected to the microfusion tank ticked away slowly as it tested every possible power supply frequency slowly. She would be like a new reploid by the time this was over. He mulled over the design possibilities, but shook his head. If _he were to implement the ideas he had, that would deprive the reploid he was working on of a choice in what she was being recreated to do_. "Well now, we should have you up and running tomorrow, my young friend. I just hope there's enough of you left to be able to come back to the world of the living." he told the shell, obviously not working yet.

The two who had been helping with the legs came in with them, finished at about the same time with the upgrades and wiring of the system. Their testing had shown green, according to the information Douglas had been shown through messages already, and he motioned for them to connect the legs to the waist portion of the reploid in question, making sure that the wires and such were connected perfectly beforehand, of course. Douglas grinned as he started a bit of detailing once the other two were gone, thanking them for their help. As he smoothed out the rough edges on the shell, he gave a call to the repair bay to get a large amount of syntheflesh ready for his pet project. He'd need it soon, after all.

_Hey... maybe I am in inventor after all_?

Elsewhere on the base

It was with great pleasure that he began playing the ancient arcade machine. Long ago, humans had even played in tournaments using this game and its successors. To increase the difficulty of the game, the one playing the game had programmed it to act as if one of the best of the human players were playing it, using skills and knowledge that the CPU itself didn't have in order to control the reploid's opponents. Of course, the player had chosen Ryu, and the opponent had Ken. It was a match that made the Dragoon smile, enjoying himself as he ducked and weaved forward, rolling under a fireball in order to pull off a shoryuken. The uppercut missed as Ken blocked and followed up with a tatsumakisen, knocking Ryu to the digitized floor roof of a dojo that was Ryu's own stage level.

Magma loved this game. He even imitated Ryu's and Ken's moves at times, and was even at work modifying his flame buster in order to allow himself to try doing the shoryuken on his own. He once heard rumors that Mega Man X had perfected the move as well, but none had ever actually seen him do it first-hand. It was something that drove him to continue, to play and train on this machine as well as attempt to do the same in practice simulators. He was best at projectile attacks, but there was something about the melee features that he absolutely enjoyed as well. His entire game froze, however, when he found himself with a challenger from across the top of the machine. Dragoon glared at the announcement on the screen, then looked up to see a rather familiar face sitting across from him.

Upon seeing him, he couldn't help but to grin slightly. It was the leader of the second unit, the one reploid who had been a part of the hunters longer than even Zero had been part of the maverick hunters. Another melee combat specialist, no less, and Magma often enjoyed practicing his developed moves against him because he was like a legend here in the maverick hunters, and with the Repliforce as well. "You should have warned me that you wanted to play, Liu." he told the humanoid reploid, and the reploid before him just nodded slightly before giving his opponent a small smile. "Going to use your normal selection?" Dragoon asked, and then looked back to the paused game as the selection was made. His own character, Ryu, on the left side and his opponent's character was on the right.

The man that Liu had chosen was hunched down. It was green, with orange hair that streamed long his back like a mane and a orange hair on his chest. Blanka, Dragoon realized, and he frowned at the selection. In this game, the green machine was a cheap attacker, capable of electrifying an opponent faster and more effectively than a human wrestler from the late 1990's called the Rock. With a sigh, Magma realized that Liu must have been practicing with this particular character, or else he'd never even bother with challenging him with that one. Very few people in the maverick hunters were capable of defeating Dragoon while he utilized Ryu, but Liu was one of the ones who always gave a good fight. Magma felt a rush of excitement as the modified game projected its 3D field above it, and both of the players could see each other as the ancient "Round 1" was announced by the digitized voice. Then, there was an almost infinite pause as spectators gathered round. Dragoon and Liu smiled slowly, watching the other as they awaited that all-important signal.

"Fight!"

Their battles on the ancient arcade machine always brought onlookers to watch, to gaze at the craftsmanship of old and new technologies combined to create an experience that would allow the players of the game to realize something that those who played long ago never truly could. Full 3D movement, a range of techniques that allowed greater mobility. The onlookers watched as the players circled about the holographic playing field, words of encouragement and whispers of bets taking place as the two began the duel. For these two were the leaders of the Maverick Hunter's most well known melee units other than the special 0th unit. To the two in control of the players of the game, however, that was of no concern. This was just as good as sparring practice, to them, for it pitted more than merely their factory and modification specifications against one another. The battle of the mind was what they sought, another way to tune up their abilities. And so, the duel waged on, to the delight of those who were watching the small, virtual battle.

Iris was speaking with one of the people from the second unit as well at her lunch table- a maverick hunter who was wearing her hawk-like flight armor. Together, they were conversing as the battle over in the arcade section began to draw quite a crowd, and they laughed a little as they saw a large number of reploids and humans go over to watch. Of course, there were only a very few number of hunters who ever bothered with the games these days, and only one particular pair who ever managed to get a crowd that size to be drawn to watch the game. "Looks like my commander's battling the 14th commander again. Don't they ever get tired of that ancient game?" the hawk-armored reploid asked Iris, and Iris giggled a little before grinning mischieviously.

"Of course not! They remind me of my brother and Zero, actually, when they do that kind of thing over there. At least they can't damage one another like that, though. My brother nearly lost a hand during their last sparring practice." Iris replied, concern for her brother entering her voice as she recalled the incident. "Of course, he had that fixed right up and the match went on for another hour before they decided to stop for the day." she commented, a smile on her face. She could never decide who to cheer on in those spars, and so never raised her voice during them- to do so would be to make the two lose their concentration, and all that they wanted to do was get better and better with those beam sabers of theirs, she knew.

"How can you watch them do that without rooting for one or the other? Besides..." Iris' friend trailed off, shutting her mouth quickly as her sensors caught wind of a certain energy signature. Iris' sensors did the same, and she smiled brightly as she quickly stood up to wave at the figure who had been heading in their direction. A red and white armored reploid, lined with fold in some places. A long blonde ponytail playing along his back as he smiled and walked towards the table that the two ladies were sitting at, with a tray of food in hand. "I think I'll leave you two lovebirds alone now." the hawk-armored reploid said quietly, throwing her now stunned friend a conspiratorial wink before taking her now empty tray to the nearby trash receptical.

Iris stared after her friend for a moment before looking to Zero, who had already placed the tray down on the table across from the female reploid. "Did I interrupt something?" he asked the brunette, who immediately shook her head before smiling shyly in response to the query. She began to remember their time spent together the day before, and she couldn't help but to blush when she thought of how much she really enjoyed spending time with the one that mavericks called the 'red demon.'

"Nothing at all, Zero. How has your day been?" she answered, sitting down as her friend did. The small talk continued as cheers and words of encouragement darted back and forth from over in the arcade, with the two players of that ancient, yet modified game continued to battle each other in a no-holds-barred, no-time-limit match of who was better.

And from near the window of the cafeteria, a red maverick hunter smiled before walking off, taking mental notes of the three people he'd been told to keep an eye on. Once he stepped outside, and he found the coast was clear, the hunter disappeared in beam of red light that rose to the heavens.

**Author's Note**: Well now, here's the info on Roy. The full name is Roy Fokker, and he was a veritech pilot in the anime called Robotech: The Macross Saga. He's one of my favorite characters of all time, and I always thought that I could use a character that is somewhat like him in my stories. However, because of the way I write and the way that his personality is, I found myself unable to do a whole lot towards making that goal a reality. Roy had a good sense of humor, knew how to have fun and when to kick ass. And when it was time for the latter, well... He could be about as destructive as Mega Man can be, really. If you haven't watched the series, I suggest that you try doing so sometime. You may be pleasantly surprised by this anime from the 80's.

**Review Responses**: A few less than last time? Ah well.

**_Lady Axia_**: Yet another new name, eh? Actually, the last chapter was shorter than the two chapters before it.

**_Jazzerman_**: Thanks for the review!

**_Chaos Emerald Guardian_**: Well, I do think you're right about X being pessimistic. However, if you take into effect that this is the third maverick uprising that he's just dealt with, and he's still feeling a bit pissed that it's partially his fault? Well, I think I've written him as much in character as I can without jumping into his boots. Yes, Ayumi will be returning within a chapter or two, I think.


	6. Transitions are difficult

**Summary**: One must find a place to fit in... or carve such a place out.

**Author's Notes**: Wow! So many reviews for that last chapter. I guess that means people liked how I did everything, though I have to admit I didn't like how it got set up on the website (all the dashes were removed, for some reason). I just hope that doesn't happen this time, because I like to make sure that everything is separated properly. Delta X is right- the chapters have been getting shorter. Slowly but surely, this little series of mine has become a lot easier to read, despite the 'technical difficulties' that I'm having with the two main characters. I guess I did the right thing in keeping Ayumi alive after all- I was fairly certain that I would at least get a few complaints, if not a flame or two for allowing her to survive the virus.

I think I'll let ya know now about something- I wrote that entire blizzard/bonfire thing before realizing that it fit well with the virus' intentions, and added the virus' influence to it. Zaisha, I'm glad that you liked that part (and the part with the police reploid standing over some 'stunned' anti-techies). When it comes to the three laws... well, you know the saying. Rules are meant to be broken. For Reploids, the Three Laws of Robotics are merely guidelines to govern basic behavior. However, because Reploids are not mindless, are capable of decision-making and in-depth thinking processes as a result, they can deny the laws as casually as a human would disobey laws set upon them by a government. As such, humanity either deals with the fact that Reploids are not simple robots (like Wily and Light's robots were, with obvious exceptions), or lose a vital portion of their workforce. Guess which one sounds better to most people?

I know I said that I won't be giving Arik a buster, back in the first chapters (I forget where exactly). I'm going to stick with that, but of course, I know how to provide alternatives. I don't design mecha for RPGs like RIFTS and Robotech without coming up with a few ideas that could work here as well, after all. As for the Street Fighter scene... well, with Magma Dragoon such an influential character in this (yeah, right), I wanted to bring up another Capcom series that was influential with the Mega Man X games. So, there it was. I don't expect to have any more cameos for other series, however, in this one. I've also heard that several people (you know who you are) enjoyed Double's appearance, as well as how I managed to get his character down. Along those lines, I've been told that maybe I have X acting a bit too... well, 'off' might be the best term for him. I agree- then again, I'd say that since is the third time that he's gone after Sigma and his mavericks and managed to defeat them, he's probably a bit, shall we say, stressed? I'll see about getting our blue hero some therapy, though (that could make a good one-shot fic. Maybe Wily should be the therapist?). Okay?

Oh yes, I also don't know Japanese, so I'm not about to try and do any more than the basics or anything. Sorry all!

**Disclaimer**: Again, if you guys at Capcom are too lazy to read the disclaimer on my Bio, you'll be too lazy to attempt to sue me for the usage of your characters. Anyway, the disclaimer's on the bio, so read it there before attempting to sue me. I hate adding this in every time I write a new chapter, after all.

At the airport

Customs was always a pain- not only to get out of an airport once you reached the destination, but before then as well. I learned this the hard way as he held his luggage while attempting to get through the security gate. Airport security had become somewhat more lax in the past century or two- one only needed to have their body and luggage scanned. The luggage was teleported when it was safe to do so, straight to a holding locker at the passenger's destination. This helped keep the weight on the airplane down, as well as allow for a somewhat faster flight. The fingers of the my right hand slid slowly through my short green hair slowly, even as my left clutched the handle of the duffel bag that I was carrying beside myself. I managed to grab a few things from my parent's locked accounts, mostly antiques from the storage bay that they had rented for a long while.

The Lightech computer had been there too! A laptop, no less, though certainly not of the EDDY series that had proven to be so popular in the mid-20XX era. It was more reminiscent of the ancient 'notebook' designs from even before the 200XX times, and it was not really very powerful or fast as a result. Certainly an antique, it had gone on the internet for a good price off of E-bay (still in use for over 200 years, despite maverick uprisings!). The other old computers hadn't been so carefully stored away, and were slightly damaged at the time I got there to see them. Still, I smiled as I remembered the face on the collector who offered me a fair price for the old machines. Of course I sold them as well.

_All-in-all, I received a substantial amount of Zenny that helped counteract the remaining balance on my parts so well that I was all caught up, thanks simply to the sale of the Lightech laptop system. The only things I'd kept were the old albums that my mother had put together while I was younger, set into a minidisk, and a picture that I had managed to keep intact, saving it from my mangled wallet before I'd tossed it away_. I didn't need it anymore, thanks to the hollow portions of my right and left legs that allowed the same usage as pockets in jeans in them, though I certainly wore jeans anyway. As I found myself in front of a security reploid, I gave him my duffel bag and presented my Identification information. He took the electronic ID and matched it to the readings he found with his own sensors, comparing them, and then with my own internal ID. With a nod, he gave back the duffel bag and disconnected the wireless connection that we had just shared, and I smiled as I took my things and walked past the checkpoint.

Gate... D5, I remembered, pulling up the file I had saved the relevant information in. Of course, the map was something that I didn't have a chance to memorize (or even take a mental picture of it). _The place is really packed_, I told myself, as I watched people come and go. Groups of humans and reploids mingled together... _That's kinda strange, isn't it_? Only a few weeks after that maverick uprising in Doppler Town, and people seemed to not care that reploids had caused it.

I smiled slowly as I realized that, unlike what so many people on television have said in the past week, there are far more humans who don't believe that reploids are entirely to blame for everything that had happened during the uprising. _Dr. Light created the first reploid... the prototype, Mega Man X. Dr. Cain found him, copied his design, and then other creators and inventors put their own spin on the design. Then, humans treated reploids badly. The first mavericks. What is the true cause of that virus... the true reason of reploids going maverick? An actual virus, or reploids who were abused in some sort by the race that created them_?

The thought took a lot of my time from me, and by the time I realized it, I found myself at the terminal that I needed to be at. D5, I saw, as I looked up to the gate designation that was well above my head. I shook my head, trying to clear those thoughts while I looked to the waiting area. _Another 15 minutes before boarding began for the flight to New Tokyo. Did that first leader of the maverick hunters feel the same way... or had it simply been that virus that Dr. Doppler had proven to be real_?

_It was such a strange thought, _Arik considered_. Had most people thought of it like this as well? Humans pitted against Reploids in a battle for dominance, because of how the creator deals with the created... or because of something that someone created to change the race that had been created, by the creator_? With a shrug, he forced his mind onto other things- unfortunately, they weren't the best things. Memories sprung up, unbidden, of his last trip here. When he had moved to the city that had once been existant upon that which was now wasteland.

My parents had just saved up enough money to start up their business in the newly built Doppler Town. It had been less than a year ago, no less! Yet, I had moved here with them, just before I turned 18. That was an unfortunate memory. The loneliest birthday that he'd ever had in my life- no celebration with my friends, only a dinner with my parents. Homework and then sleep. Not a single fun thing during the entire day, and not even playing a game had managed to stave off the boredom.

_I hate moving_. It's something that I've only done once or twice that I can remember, but I know that I couldn't stand having no one to talk to. With a glance to the ceiling, I sighed slowly. No need to be so open with others anymore. Lifesaver was the only one still about that I could speak to at all, and he was too busy to truly talk with anyone save for when he was actually working with me. Nope, none of my friends from my old school had bothered keeping track with me, even though I had tried to keep in touch with them after I moved. My friends that I'd made, the few of them, while I went to school here?

It was a memory that I didn't want to remember, because then there was that other memory of the one friend who did survive the destruction of the city... But not my own survival. No, I had forced myself to do what I needed to in order to get out of a life or death situation. Ever since that day, my right hand had felt, to me at least, dirty. As if I shouldn't even have it on my wrist at all, really. I'd always thought, _attacking your own friends physically was something that should never be done, whether your friend be human or Reploid. But what else was there to do, if a Reploid turned maverick_? _The answer_? There was none, really. _Justification_? That was always possible. _But I know better_...

I blinked as I felt a tap on my shoulder- and I adjusted, going from inner reflection to being aware of my surroundings once again. I looked up to see the robot, who informed me that the plane was now boarding. I nodded to the robot (a non-descript model, humanoid in appearance but otherwise only capable of its own programming) and stood up, only to see quite a line of people there. Humans, of course. Reploids rarely ever made the trip, or the time, to fly on an airplane.

With a sigh, I got into the line and relaxed- this would take a little while, I saw, and I took a look at the passengers through my sensors. Only humans in the line. No other cyborgs, or reploids, or even robots of any real size. I groaned softly as I saw only a large amount of boredom to tide me over. I hadn't even bought any magazines for the trip. Then again, it would be a long, 8-hour or so flight. Then I smiled slowly, remembering the one additional feature that I remembered having had installed in my accessible memory bank.

_Roy_! I called to the inner program within my mind, and I felt it awaken almost immediately. I hadn't called on it since the time I had it get rid of the suicide button, so to speak. _I'll never need that one_, I thought to myself, and I stepped forward as the line made slow yet steady progress forward towards the plane itself.

"_How may this program assist you?_" the voice asked me, and I grinned unconciously as I pondered an unusual thought.

_Is it considered talking to yourself if a cyborg like myself has another voice in his head_?

A few days before

In a room filled with several reploids, an old human, and the prototype of the reploid race, there was a new reploid about to be, to use an archaic term, 'resurrected.' Douglas, Alia, X, even Doctor Cain were there, checking and double checking the connections. Not that X could actually do much more than make sure that there wouldn't be any unwanted visitors while Douglas and Alia continued running all the necessary tests to make sure that no traces of the virus were left. Dr. Cain was checking all the electrical and mechanical systems with Douglas, when he could spare the time to do so.

"Everything's green here. Douglas, you did a very good job working on the new body." Dr. Cain told him, to which Douglas shrugged. But he did smile afterwards at the praise, even as he continued to check the internal readings on the reploid's systems. Mechanics and RAM tests proved green. Electrical systems are well within tolerable levels. The new secondary matrix was completely virus free, as it had been created and tested at Cain Labs. Douglas shook his head slowly, as he triple checked the system status, going through with the most in-depth diagnostic that he could send through the still de-activated body.

The female reploid on the table was clothed in basic civilian attire- a red t-shirt that was somewhat loose, a pair of jeans that weren't too tight. No one here truly knew how the reploid they had painstakingly put back together would react to waking up naked, so to speak. From the schematics and information that they had gone off of, Douglas had managed to recreate a body for the reploid that was amazingly detailed and lifelike, much like the original body had been. "Thanks, doctor Cain. But really, Alia did most of the work. I don't have a clue how she managed to get the nervous system fully up and running. Machines are more my department, after all." he told the old human.

Cain just rolled his eyes, even as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up as he adjusted his glasses, he found Alia smiling at him and giving the old man a litle shrug. "Come on, doctor. Play along with our little genius over there. Besides, it's almost time to wake up our little survivor here." she said, and he nodded in response to her words. All systems seemed to be working. The new fusion generator, now in-tune with the reploid's matrices, was already on. The coolant system, the nervous system, the processors and RAM. All now were aligned, working together to bring the reploid body back to 100 percent synchronization with the reploid mind installed in it.

"Quite right. How's the synchronization rate?" the good doctor asked, and Douglas spared him a glance, a smile, and a thumbs-up. Dr. Cain smiled at that, and then looked to the brunette before him on the table. The cane that he had in hand brought him closer to the table, and then he looked over to Alia. "Good. Give the signal to our patient, will you please?"

Alia nodded, and the blonde brought out the small remote that had been created for just this situation. The last week had been full of long nights and days for the two reploids who had been busy trying to recreate the female reploid who had somehow managed to survive the attack of the maverick virus. No fully functioning (yet sane) Reploid ever cared to connect themselves, in any way, to a reploid that was ever infected by the maverick virus. Even if, as in this case, all the virus checks turned out negative for even the faintest traces of any virus whatsoever. A wire from the remote was set into the small port on the inner portion of the left auditory sensor, and Alia pressed lightly on the button of the remote. The signal took a little less than five seconds to travel from the remote sensor to the reploid's secondary matrix, and the boot up sequence soon became enabled.

_Initialization complete._

_New hardware found: left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg. Left hand and foot, right hand and foot. Tactile sensor grid. USB v. 7.2. Primary Matrix v. 4.1. Visual adapters v. 3.1. _

_New software found: Antivirus v. 5.4, General Sensory v. 4, USB v. 7.2, Diagnostics v. 6, CainLabs Firewall v. 8.3. Language updates, Japanese, American English, Chinese, German, and Russian now available._

_Installation of hardware and software commencing..._

Strengthened by new parts, more powerful firewalls and automatic anti-virus defenses, the signal travelled through the wiring installed and then into the receiving mind. Powered by the new microfusion generator, the sleeping reploid within the matrix received the signal and the awareness expanded. Wire by wire, like a wildfire the awareness spread quickly. Integrating new parts, many at once. Integrating new systems that had otherwise been not a part of the original design, new software being detected. Newer versions of software already installed uploaded and upgraded the processors.

Breathing became apparent to the others who were watching. Systems came online. Mobility programs, language programming, anti-virus software. Vocal processors, auditory sensors. Tactile grid, nervous system online. Video sensors were last to come online. Ayumi gasped in the air, her generator giving off more heat as it spiked while her systems became integrated. Ayumi's eyes opened, though all she could see were the backup system checks as her visual sensors integrated slowly with her matrices. The systems check faded from view after a moment longer, and her senses cleared as she breathed deeply. Finally, she could feel, could stretch! And so she did, slowly, before realizing that her internal sensors had picked up the presence of four others nearby. The sound of a voice brought her to her senses, and then a small audible 'pop' became apparent as the sensors found that there was another reploid nearby.

"Wha..." was all she said, scooting back a little on the table before glancing about. A blonde female reploid wearing light pink armor. An old human that was using a cane to stay upright. A green-armored reploid that seemed to be wearing goggles or something, and another reploid off near a door of some sort who was holding a buster on his right arm. An old style buster, she realized, and Ayumi blinked as he stared at the figure who wore the weapon. He had a face that absolutely every reploid knew, and as she glanced to the old man, realization dawned on her. Or rather, her new informational memory kicked in and the information was supplied to her second matrix, giving her the information that was required. "Ah... I must still be dreaming." she said to herself, though the three reploids would surely have heard her voice. "Um... What's going on?" she asked the four in the room, looking for the entire world much like a scared little girl.

Off to the side, out of the way, X stood in the doorway with a smile. It seemed at least one reploid's life had been saved from the virus, if her early words and actions gave any indication as to her being controlled by the virus. Obviously, she wasn't, since she didn't automatically attack anyone. It took but a moment and a soft glow around his right arm as the buster disappeared, and his hand reappeared instead. His fingers flexed, one at a time, as the hand was reinitialized and connectivity re-established. _No need for that_, he thought to himself, as he stepped forward while Dr. Cain, Alia, and Douglas began to fill the girl in on what had happened to her.

He listened as Ayumi explained what she remembered last, when prompted to do so by Dr. Cain. She said something about having been looking for survivors after Gravity Beetle's attack on the middle of Doppler Town for a friend of hers. Then, her memory was fragmented after that, and she couldn't really tell what had happened. She remembered meeting someone strange near the repair shop that her friend's parents had worked at before it had been completely wiped out. Someone yellow, perhaps? A reploid, she remembered. Some brightly-colored hunter, she remembered, but then everything after that was as if it occured very vaguely. She remembered how her steps took her back to where her friend was recovering at a hospital, but nothing after a short while from then.

At the Present

Silence. It was something that she hadn't wanted for quite a while now, not since she had been deprived of senses that humans and reploids alike take for granted. As one who had been deprived of all senses, she knew quite a lot what it meant to be trapped and what it meant to be free. For the moment, she was free- in a guest room at the Maverick Hunters HQ, without so much as a roommate. Ayumi smiled a little, extending her right arm before her. _It was truly amazing, the job that the two hunters had done in recreating her body, yet providing a substantial upgrade from her previous one_. Instead of being somewhat blocky, as she had been with her first generation body, she now looked so much like a human that it would be impossible for anyone without sensors to distinguish herself from a human. Her body weight had been lightened by almost 50 as well, thanks to the construction materials that Douglas had used on her new body.

Yet, now she had more than her fill of silence in a few seconds than she ever cared to have again in her operational lifetime. Ayumi pulled on the jacket that she'd been provided by Alia, an old and slightly worn green windbreaker, and headed for the door. She didn't mind the fact that it was old and somewhat worn out, but it did itch a little. Her syntheflesh skin always did seem to take some getting used to, and it was a shade or two darker than her original skin had been- a nice improvement, actually, that she was glad of having had set in place. Speaking of place... starting this week, she'd have to decide on what she'd do next.

Cain Labs had been nice enough to put their money in on fixing up her body and matrix, but a return on the investment would be wanted. It was obvious that they'd spent quite a lot of zenny on her upgrades and body in general, despite the fact that Cain didn't mind putting up the funds for it. They knew now that it was possible, if difficult in the extreme, to save a maverick virus-infested reploid, if the matrices remained intact. Her memories were so foggy- many of them were gone. She knew that she'd had some experiences with certain things, but they were gone now. She had a vague sense that she was forgetting certain things, things she knew that she should know. And yet... well, a defragmentation routine would be required to try and fix that problem. It would destroy any chance she'd have of regaining those memories, however, _and that was why she didn't bother with attempting to fix everything_.

Ayumi's arms crossed before her chest as she stepped out from her room, and into the hallway. It was quiet, in this wing where all the guests were allowed to stay in. The strange thing, there were no guests. Douglas had told her that in this place, the guest rooms were only really utilized by Repliforce members, the occasional human, and a place for people to meet when required to do so. Other than that, it was never used. _And that makes me feel so alone_...

"Oh? Hello there... am I in the wrong place, or are you?" came a question from before her, down the hallway. The door slid shut behind Ayumi as she glanced down the hallway to see the person to whom that English-accented voice came from. A long haired girl, with a red beret of some sort, she saw. Fairly short, _even shorter than I_, Ayumi thought to herself, as she shook her head slowly at the strange reploid. She wasn't wearing a maverick hunter's insignia- instead, she was wearing a Repliforce insignia on her chest armor.

"Actually, I was given a room down here while I recover and finish repairs." Ayumi replied quietly, even as she walked down towards the reploid who had spoken to her. The brunette nodded and then bowed slightly, to which Ayumi returned the bow. _My hair isn't that long_, Ayumi noticed, as she stood back up before the somewhat shorter Reploid. The smaller Reploid smiled a little bit, reaching up with both hands to adjust the beret that had fallen off to one side.

"Finish repairs? Shouldn't you be in a repair bay rather than in a room out here?" the girl asked, a bit surprised obviously by the answer that had been given. Ayumi thought for a second and then shrugged slowly. _What the hell_. Ayumi smiled at that... _Normally, I wouldn't use such language, not even in my thoughts_!

"Yes. Believe it or not, I barely survived the maverick virus, and Dr. Cain was nice enough to replace the parts of my body that were infected." she told the brunette, who simply stepped back, her left hand raised to cover the shocked look that Ayumi could see immediately upon her face. "No need to worry, they all say that I'm not infected in the slightest, thank goodness. Even Dr. Cain and Douglas agree with that, though they said they're getting a specialist here to make sure of it within a few days."

"Truly? Well, if Dr. Cain says so, then it must be true. Lord knows that he wouldn't want anything to do with a maverick if he can help it." the shorter Reploid commented, and it was Ayumi's turn to look a bit shocked at that information. "It was in the papers back when Sigma first went maverick. One of the mechaniloids that he and his troops had reprogrammed managed to get to Cain, and, well... Zero was only just in time to keep the thing from killing him." the shorter brunette told her, looking a bit sad at the information that she had to give. Ayumi was just surprised at the fact that she would know this at all. _She has to be a seventh generation reploid at the least, probably an eighth or ninth, even_!

"I'm amazed you would know information like that from a few years ago, actually. You don't look over, what, maybe one or two years old at most?" Ayumi commented. Of course, she knew from experience about the early days of the uprisings. She'd been activated before then, one of the first generation Reploids that had been created. Prototypes of a prototype, the very definition of a Reploid. Those who came today were built much differently, with new design ideas... Ayumi was practically the same as most of the newer models as well, thanks to the complete overhaul that she'd been given. There was little left of her old, first generation design. Only the secondary matrix that had survived the battle with the virus, after all.

"Well, you don't look too old either, to tell the truth. But you're right, I got my information from Zero a while ago. My name's Iris, by the way. It is nice to meet you." the shorter brunette said to Ayumi, and Ayumi smiled in return as she heard her name, as well as where the information was received from. _Zero_... the name was easily recognizable. There were only a very few people, Reploid or human, who didn't know that name. Commander Zero, leader of the Maverick Hunters after Sigma's defection. The same Zero who sacrificed to save Commander X from some maverick. The one who was resurrected to do battle again, only a little over a year ago. And now? He was a Commander once more, and obviously, a good friend of Iris'.

"My name is Ayumi. It is very nice to meet you, Iris." Ayumi replied, and then she smiled again as she tugged on the sleeves of her hand-me-down jacket slightly. "I hope I haven't kept you from any appointments, if that is what you are here for." she said to the other, who simply nodded slowly at the words, her eyes seeming to widen a bit as she took the time to check her internal chronometer. Or was it recognition instead?

"Oh! I'm late for meeting Zero! I'm really sorry, but I must be off!" she said, and then in a flash of purple light, Iris was gone from sight, darting towards the heavens in an effort to make up for lost time. Ayumi glanced up at the ceiling and then sighed slowly before shaking her head. _Obviously, Iris was a bit more than just a friend_, she thought to herself, even as she smiled a little bit. Then, she frowned. She hadn't been allowed to make any calls to America since being reactivated, and there hadn't been any response to the few e-mails that she had been able to send out to Arik's address. That could only mean one of a few things- perhaps he just hadn't received them. Perhaps he had received them, but was unable to reply? But even worse was the nagging feeling she had in the back of her mind, that he wasn't able to receive them because of a reason that was far, far worse than the other two were.

"I'll have to try sending it directly to his number." she told herself quietly, muttering under her breath as she attempted to recall the number of his internal communications device. She'd had to connect directly, that first time. She'd given Arik her own communications number as well, but she hadn't received any communications on that number yet. Certainly, no others knew of it, since it was one of those things that all Reploids chose for themselves, rather than have it randomly done (unless the reploid wanted it that way). _I hope that this reaches him_, she thought to herself. She knew that MHHQ was in Japan, and he was in America, but there always the chance that he'd be connected to some sort of online network that could carry her message to him.

Enroute

The flight was rather uneventful. Not even a bit of turbulence yet, and wasn't it close to the rainy season now? At least the trip was going by quickly enough, I thought, and I smiled a little with my eyes closed. Internally, I was connected to the plane's wireless internet connection, and downloading what I could find on programs that would allow me to learn Japanese. I could just use a translator program, but the updates for it were a little more scarce and difficult to come by. I'll have to use the updates for as long as I have to, but I knew that I'd eventually have to take the plunge and either integrate the program with my own vocal processors, or learn the language for myself, instead of relying on a program instead.

With the music of a bygone era in my head, I listened and had Roy integrate the program with my speech processors in a loose way, to help with my translations. Then I felt a pulse in my head, one that was much unlike the headaches I'd had earlier in the day during take-off. Then, there was some tone. It took me a moment before I realized what was going on. Someone was attempting to gain entry into my communication's port, and send me some sort of information? I was immediately wary at this sudden intrusion, and tentatively sent out the virus programs out to check and scan the package that had been sent. The information flashed before me, and I nodded slowly as the file turned out to be completely clean.

A text-only file. No spam, spyware, or viruses attached to it anywhere, either on the secured line that I found near it or the trace of a return address that had been upon it. Warily, I gestured to the file, bringing it up to where I could look at the address. It had an at the end of it, and I knew that no one would attempt to use that particular site to send files unless it was actually the maverick hunters. _Open_, I told the message, and it unfolded before my eyes, the text enlarging to where I could read it. It took a few moments for me to go through it, and then I blinked.

It had been, by and large, a simple greeting letter. Sent by someone with a name that I recognized, but couldn't believe. _A... Ayumi_? My eyes opened, and I looked ahead to the seat in front of me, stunned beyond belief. _Ayumi_? I shuddered a little, arms clasping before my chest as I looked out the nearby window. I stared outside. Was this a joke? _A possible mistake? Had I perhaps sent that to myself... or was Roy playing a trick on me_?

"_This system would never present a farce such as this one upon you._" Roy replied, picking up on my thoughts. I nodded slightly, unnoticed by the human in the seat beside mine, as I watched the white clouds beneath the plane. _If it wasn't Roy, who could it possibly be_? I listed the possibilities in my mind, and then proceeded to tear them apart. Lifesaver_? He didn't have time for jokes like these, really_. And he knew me well enough that I wouldn't take well to such a thing, either. _That old doctor, the second generation reploid? No, he had been killed by Ayumi when she had been maverick_.

"_As the old saying goes: If the solution, however improbable, is the only solution, then it must be, by order of elimination, the truth. Or something like that._" Roy said, and I groaned slightly, remembering the old book that I'd read back in elementary school that had that in there. _Spouting Sherlock Holmes now, are ya Roy_? I asked the system, which just seemed to give me a little chuckle in reply. It was a reploid brain, after all, and the intermediary between my thoughts and my body's actions. It certainly would have access, if only reading access, to some of my thoughts and dreams that I'd had. If that had been something that I had dreamt, that would explain the information that it had brought up.

_So... was Ayumi alive_? I looked away from the window, and to my right hand as I recalled the day that I'd had to strike my best friend. _No. She couldn't be. Mavericks were melted to scrap and then the materials were recycled into anything but machines or reploids, such as aluminum cans and such. She can't be alive, no one would allow such a thing! Besides... she was a maverick, now. Even if she wasn't dead_... I shuddered, remembering her with the lifeless eyes as she lie on the floor, unmoving in the slightest degree as I closed my eyes. The image came up unbidden, and I heard Roy vaguely say that it was shutting down now. The reploid's voice couldn't be heard as I mentally began to kick my own ass for the predicament that I had accidentally put my friend into.

"She must be..." I told myself, a whisper that no others could possibly hear. My fingers tightened on the jacket that I wore, a dark green color of a new, medium-weight design. Not that I was worried about getting cold, but because I liked it, really. I hadn't been cold since before my body had been activated, after all, thanks to the power generator inside of me. But now, I felt that somewhat familiar feeling again. _Cold_. With a shake of my head, I looked over the contents of the message again, but the return address was _If it wasn't her, who could it possibly be_? No one alive knew of our friendship outside of Lifesaver, and I rather doubt that he'd tell anyone about it.

"What the hell?" I muttered, and pulled up a reply message to send back to the address that I'd remembered from when she had connected herself to me, back before all this happened. Stored away, really, in my reploid memory banks, was a much more accurate way of putting it. Then, I wrote a new message to send to whoever this was.

To Hello.

I don't know how you know who I am, and I have to admit, I don't appreciate jokes like this. My friend Ayumi was killed as a Reploid gone Maverick. How you managed to find out my internal communications number is strange, and unless I receive a reply from you detailing how you could know when I know that not even the maverick hunters have it yet, I'll be changing it soon. I want to know how you knew my number, as well as know about my friendship with her! How did you find out?

Short and to the point. _If I had gone any more into it, I'd probably have written about how poorly I was dealing with the situation, being a main cause as to Ayumi's death_. _As if a bunch of dead humans and badly damaged reploids couldn't attest to Ayumi's killing spree as a maverick_. The cold look in her eyes was something I'd likely never forget, the feel of her hands clenched about my neck as she attempted to choke my life from me. Then I struck back, barely able to keep her from attacking me long enough for her to regain control, if only for a second. The virus recovered and took her body again after I struck her several more times, each time causing me to shake.

I still hadn't recovered fully from that. Perhaps the hunters had a remedy for that sort of thing other than a format of the mind? That particular measure wouldn't work on someone with a human mind, after all. With a sigh, I sent the message back to whoever was playing the prank on me, and then shut the communications port from access while I continued to download the last update for the translator program that I now had installed.

Headquarters

The large, red, dragon-like reploid soon found himself inside a room that was designated as recruitment, and he grinned a little as he walked inside and saw someone he hadn't expected. His unit's ex-navigator, now promoted to paper-pusher, was busy with the documentation that described and listed all of the new recruits' abilities. There had been rumors all around the HQ about a certain recruit who was scheduled to be coming in soon, one who had tangled with a maverick reploid with only his bare hands and feet. The thought of a new hunter with good hand-to-hand skills excited the Dragoon, and so here he was to try and get as much information on the man as he could.

"So, where's the last guy for the new batch of hunters, eh?" the gruff voice asked, and Alia looked up to see the unit commander of the 14th coming towards her. The Dragoon towered over Alia, and she had to fight the obvious discomfort she usually felt when near the unit commander. Magma smiled a little to his ex-navigator, who had been reassigned to doing paperwork after that top secret project had been finished the other day or so. What exactly they had been doing, Dragoon wasn't sure of, but he knew that it had to do with a maverick of some type.

"Don't worry about him, Dragoon. He's a cyborg, so he's coming by plane. He'll be here in a few hours, barring any sort of interference. You don't have to train him, though. Not yet." she told him, a small smile on the blonde reploid's face. "We've got a few hunters who'll be testing him to see where best he'll fit, but to tell the truth, my money's on a hunter unit." she said, and Dragoon grinned slightly. Inside, however, he was disappointed. He'd heard that whoever this was had managed to stave off a maverick with his own hands and feet, without a weapon to help. Now that he knew it was a cyborg, he was somehow disappointed.

Alia wasn't aware of that as she continued. "Besides, from what I can tell, he's a friend of the reploid that I helped with saving during the past week or so. I don't know how much of that is actually true, but perhaps by the time he gets here, we'll have to prepare a reunion of sorts." she said, but Magma was already walking away. He didn't care about reunions, unless it involved himself somehow, and that one didn't sound like it would. The pink-armored Reploid blinked as she noticed Magma walking away without even a goodbye, and she shrugged slowly as she realized that he simply didn't really care at all about the circumstances.

She blinked again, hearing the door on the other side of the room slide open even as Magma made his way out through a different door. Her sensors caught wind of the signature of someone she knew rather well, and Alia smiled as she looked over to the door that someone had just walked into the room through. "Well, hello Ayumi. Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked, the smile fading as she saw the look on the brunette's face. She was frowning, and if she could cry, she probably would be doing so, Alia noticed. "Wha... what's the matter?" she asked carefully, setting the datapad down on the desk she had been working at and then walked over to Ayumi.

"Don't come near me, Alia." she warned the blonde, and Alia stopped short, about six feet away from the girl who told her not to come any closer. "I was a maverick. Tell me, why am I even still alive?" she asked, her eyes glaring at Alia who stepped back as if hit by a ton of force, both physical and mental. _Who had told her that_, Alia wondered, even as she shook her head to Ayumi. "I know that maverick reploids get melted into storage containers or worse. What am I still doing here?"

"You're alive, because you fought the virus, Ayumi. We salvaged your mind, but the virus contaminated your body. We managed to keep you alive, though your memory was fragmented." she explained carefully. Ayumi nodded at that, and then stepped forward as she placed a hand on Alia's right arm. In an instant, she sent the blonde a copy of the message that she had received only a few minutes ago. One that had sent her almost running through the hallways to where they were now, barreling past hunters and humans alike.

The message made Alia blink, and then smile a little. _So, that's why she is so upset_? "Ayumi, remember, none of us have been able to get ahold of him. Not even Lifesaver, since he was so busy. And I ran a test through the server that his e-mail address is located on. Guess what? It had been based in Doppler Town. The reason he never got any messages is because that server was completely vaporized!" Alia informed her friend, who nodded mutely. "He doesn't know that you're still alive, Ayumi. If he did, I'm sure he wouldn't have sent a message like that. We'll give him a surprise, okay?" she said, and Ayumi blinked after that.

It took only a moment more of explanation before that sorrowful look on her face was aleviated, with something much more meaningful taking its place. A smile spread wide, and then a grin. She knew he hated surprises, but this would be something that not even Arik would be able to keep himself from enjoying, as long as the cards were played right. He was coming here, after having joined the hunters! Alia watched the brunette smile, and it was certainly infectious, she thought to herself, as she couldn't help but to smile as well. Quickly, Alia brought up her communications program and began to give the details of everything to a message that would be sent to Commander X.

Sure, it was pulling rank, but that was alright. X would understand the significance of this. Alia did hesitate as she tried to put a number of hours to how long she would need to have off from work- she couldn't just let Ayumi go alone, after all. She'd never been around New Tokyo, yet alone Japan, and she hadn't needed to learn the language yet, written or voiced. Alia nodded, adding about 3 hours to the amount of time she'd need off, starting when and when she would be back. X would probably allow her the time off, if it was possible... Maverick uprisings were on the decline, much as they were immediately after Sigma had been defeated. Surely, X would understand the importance of this to Ayumi, right?

The message was sent, even as Ayumi attempted to write a new message to her friend. Alia couldn't tell what she would try to write to him, and so just told her to hold off on sending any more messages until they reached the terminal in a few hours, when he should be arriving at the airport. Alia sent the message to Commander X, who was otherwise in his room, most likely attempting to relax or possibly just lamenting the fact that he had sent many reploids to their ultimate demise in the scrapheap that was the volcanic disposal facility. Alia felt sorry for the commander- she could understand that he felt responsible, but why for everything? _I'll have to see if there's anything I can do to help him_, she thought to herself, even as she removed Ayumi's hand from her arm.

"Check the time of when his flight gets in, Ayumi. You know where he'd be coming from better than I would, so let me know when he should be arriving here and we'll get a vehicle to go to the airport in. If he's coming by airplane, he sure isn't ready for teleporting yet." Alia informed the enthusiastic brunette, who just simply nodded as she went over to lean against the wall while she attempted to locate that information. Alia, on the other hand, sighed softly as she got back to work. Despite the fact that she'd just sent in a request to get some time off, she still had work she wanted to finish first. _No need to put off til tomorrow what you can still do today_, she told herself mentally, a smile on her face as she leaned over the desk to pick up the datapad. She had lied to Ayumi, actually had the information regarding Arik's departure and arrival times in her memory banks already, but the girl needed something to do.

In his room is where he had stayed for most of the past several weeks, save for when helping with that virus survivor. Ever since he had recovered from the damage he had taken from the hands, claws, stingers, and other various weapons of the maverick generals he had faced, he had remained alone. Not even Zero had really had much time to talk to him, and, as X knew himself, he could use a talking to. With a sigh, X stared up at the ceiling, rather than facing his memories again. _Fighting takes so much outta me_, he thought to himself as his mind attempted to make the clean ceiling surface be more interesting than it really was. _Damn Sigma_! _How long must I continue to fight to keep humans safe from Reploids_? It was a question, he realized, that he'd never been able to fully answer for himself. Indeed, Sigma had been a cause of many problems since he went maverick a few years ago.

Including the last two uprisings, though the first one spanned over six months before it was finally finished. How he had managed to deal with the ex-leader of the maverick hunters was like a blur. Especially after Sigma's programming transferred into an actual program that became, according to Dr. Doppler's research, a virus. It would explain how he always seemed to be behind every major uprising, at least. The virus had been detected and confirmed by Doppler before he went maverick as a result of working upon it, attempting to reverse-engineer the thing. But the virus itself wound up corrupting him somehow! That anti-virus program that Doppler had created had almost allowed him to retire, to escape the battling forever if the program had actually been perfected.

But no, Sigma was behind the virus. Again! He'd corrupted Doppler before the vaccine had been completed, and then to make sure that no others could finish the work, had sent Gravity Beetle to destroy the last surviving file of the research before it could be backed up in seperate locations, or accessed by anyone other than those in Doppler Town. The city was gone now, wiped off the map by a gravity implosion. Many humans and reploids had died in the attack. That damned beetle had the gall to gloat over X about it. _Well, that was one particular reploid that I didn't mind ridding the world of_, he mused, closing his eyes as the explosion that the beetle had given off after the gravity altering device in his body went haywire and wound up blowing his parts to different corners of the room as a result.

There was a soft tone in his head as he received a communication, and he smiled slightly as he noticed the name in the sender category. Ah... he hadn't received anything from her before, save for when it was an emergency, but this was a welcome message from Alia. So, Ayumi, that reploid that she had helped bring back to life, had a friend who was joining the hunters today? _Well, perhaps that would be interesting to see_, he considered, and he couldn't help but to smile. Zero was out with Iris again, doing who knows what. Though, he could guess, which brought a blush to his face as he considered what his best friend could be doing. Of course, it didn't truly concern him, and so X sat up and looked around his sparse room. Everywhere he looked, a familiar surrounding. An old Lightech computer, top of the line back when it was created by his 'father'.

He frowned a little as he thought about Dr. Light. _Why had he created him? Had he known from the beginning that this sort of thing would happen_? It was those questions that he asked himself daily now, but with a shrug he just stood up and ordered the lights to turn on. The darkened room soon brightened as the lights went on, bringing with the change in his own demeanor. _I can't stay like this. I have to move on_, he told himself. Whether or not his father had known that he would go to war like this wasn't worth worrying over- _the fact is, I'm stuck with the job until Sigma's finally gone and that virus has been deleted_. It seemed like Sigma was gone... but he was a virus, one that was persistent and undefeatable by any who had gone against it, save for a precious few.

There was just something in the back of his head that was telling X that Sigma wasn't gone yet. That everything hadn't been decided yet. With a small smile on his face, he realized as well that his importance in the life of the world was not yet done, that he was still needed and would be for many years to come. _A premonition_, he wondered, and then he just shrugged as he thought back to that message that Alia had sent him. _I think I'll have to check on the workload and see if they really need her doing paperwork today_, he thought to himself, and then grinned a little bit. He felt a bit better now, strangely, and he hadn't even actually done anything yet. Perhaps it was just enough to know that one day, that virus would finally be destroyed. And there would be peace enough for all once more.

**Author's Note**: Well, that's not a bad way to end the latest chapter. I dunno, is the fic going too slow, do you guys think? I personally like the speed I'm going at- nice and slow, with plenty of interaction and characterizations. Hehe, so now I've got a happy character, a somewhat depressed character who still has a little hope, and then there's my two main characters. All reviews, preferably constructive criticism, are welcome. Suggestions can be sent to my e-mail address (provided in my Bio page). I'll try to have the next chapter up soon!

**Review Responses**:

**Chaos Emerald Guardian**- Thanks for the review. I plan on having more Arik in the next chapters (I'm already working on chapter 7).

**Lady Axlia**- Oops, sorry about that! I'll see if I can fix that up.

**Jazzerman**- Sorry about that! I'll try to leave a review soon. I've been kinda busy.

**Blade Dragoon**- Ah, welcome to my series! Thanks for the review, too. I'm glad you like this kind of fic, and I hope you'll be around to review for a while longer. I plan on making this fic end at around 10-12 chapters, I think.

**J**- I understand that the reploids are above the three laws, that they're basically there as a guideline and nothing else. That's why I said what I did!

**Hotshot**- Thanks for continuing to review!

**Delta X**- You're right, the last several chapters have been getting shorter. Which is partly why this chapter is even longer than the others! Over 9,000 words here, this time. I think you'll have to wait until the next chapter to get an overview of the MHHQ, however. Hehe, I'm already over 3,000 words into chapter 7, so you shouldn't have to wait much longer than a week or so now.

**Zaisha**- I know what ya mean. I had to do something about the three laws, and a sarcastic remark seemed best for the job.


	7. Reunions can be painful

**Summary**: Partings are such sweet sorrow. Reunions can be ruthless!

**Author's Note**: I started this one shortly after finishing chapter 6. You know, it just dawned on me that I've yet to assign pairings to this particular fic! My fault, really. Alright, here goes- Alia and X, Iris and Zero. That's it, so far. Anything else would be fan-made characters, after all, and I'm not about to bring in Layer or Palette yet. Are you expecting Ayumi and Arik? It's most likely gonna happen, I think. I know many people don't like fanmade characters getting with main characters from the series all that much, after all. Oh yes, and I'm giving you all fair warning now- this is probably the 'fluffy' chapter of the series, I think.

If you're a reader just starting out on this chapter, please go back to chapter one and read from there! I don't want to keep readers in the dark (well, not forever) when it comes to already introduced characters. Really, there's only two fanmade characters so far, with only one or two others who might 'seem' to be fanmade, but actually aren't. I'll even provide a little information on the series so far, right now: Axl isn't here. This series takes place both during and after MMX3, and I'm heading towards X4 after this chapter. Axl, since he joins up in X7, probably won't be making an appearance yet. X5 was originally the series finalle, but you know how companies like to milk what can be considered their flagship series'. Axl was created afterwards, in X7, so chances are that I'll add him- eventually. Just don't expect him anytime soon, even if I do bring him in.

I've noticed that the changes in my original versions of the last few chapters have been unfortunate: I no longer have any 'spacers', as I call them, after I upload them to It's unfortunate, and now I've gotta find some other way to get things spaced out. Which I can't stand, because I've been using these spacers for years now.

**Major changes in storyline**: Nothing major, really, but here's a small rundown.

**a**) Douglas, Iris, Alia, and Magma Dragoon are older than one might expect, though they never entered the spotlight until their respective games when they did make an appearance. Therefore, I've added them into this fic, though it begins during the events of MMX3.

**b**) Zero, until after the events of MMX3, has been receiving microfracture repairs since his resurrection. This would explain the fact in X3 that if he technically 'dies' (runs out of energy), he would be out of commission. In MMX4, this problem has obviously been fixed.

**c**) Most maverick hunters are humanoid in build, but many use armors that make them look like animals (like hawks, weasels, etc). However, some like Web Spider and Magma Dragoon, are full-blown animal-type reploids. There just aren't too many of 'em like that.

**d**) If you're wondering about Signas, he has hasn't been built yet. In this storyline, he was created for the purpose of taking over for Dr. Cain after he died, sometime after the events of X4 and before X5 takes place.

**Disclaimer**: If you're too lazy to look at my Bio for this, Capcom, you're too lazy to sue me for a few dimes. Though, I'd appreciate it if Capcom looked up my 'Terra' series based off of MML. Maybe they'd finally have some ideas on how to make MML3 if they did (or at least start it off)? I wish!

**Landing**?

"We are now landing at Tokyo International Airport. Please keep your seatbelts on as we begin our descent, and do not unbuckle until we have come to a complete stop." the young, attractive voice of an automatic vocal system sounded out to the passengers. The turbulence had finally made itself known as the plane began to descend slowly towards the airport far below. It was something that I knew that I never could fully enjoy- the flight on an airplane was very comfortable, save for two parts in particular. Ascending was something I can deal with. It was using the tiny bathrooms and the descending part that I couldn't stand in the slightest. Fortunately, I'd never have to worry about the bathroom part again, thanks to my reploid body.

I pulled up that message that I'd been sent, and shook my head slowly as I read through it once more. _It might've been Ayumi_, I conceded after a few more moments of thought. But if it was, she must be a maverick! No one, from anything I've ever heard, managed to survive the virus or even delete it entirely from their systems. Save for cyborgs, of course. The reploid mind, once it was found to be unneeded, is purged from a cyborg's system in order to hand over complete control once full synchronization had been reached. _According to my internal diagnostics, it would only take another few days before Roy would be wiped out_. _Maybe only a few hours_. Until then, a cyborg is vulnerable to the maverick virus. With a sigh, I set aside the message and shook my head slowly.

There was a jolt beneath me, and I shivered as I realized that we had made it to the ground already. I smiled a little, glad to have left my old life now. There was nothing left for me in America except for my extended family, who hadn't even sent a message my way. _With my parents gone, I guess they thought I was dead as well. Or maybe they didn't care to begin with_, I thought, and the smile faded from my face slowly. _Oh well_. _My Dad's family never really cared for my parents and myself, having gone off to live in Doppler Town with a large population of Reploids. They were really bad when it came to dealing with anyone different, and they never had cared much for my mother as a result. For example, she'd had her hair color genetically modified to be a different color than humans normally had_.

I smiled a little, my left hand rising to slide my fingers through the darker green colored hair that I had, cut relatively short to my head. It sure made me stand out in school- most of the time, only the Reploid students had such unusually colored hair, to help differentiate themselves from the humans in class. And society in general, no less. _Of course, I have green hair, thanks to that little genetic modification that mom had undergone_. We soon began to taxi into the airport, where we'd be disembarking, and I couldn't help but to wonder just how I'd get to the HQ. I had been told that I'd be picked up there, but no one had ever bothered to tell me by who, or give me a picture or anything of the person who would be attempting to find me there.

I stayed seated while the other passengers began to stand and head into the aisle way. I knew better- I could wait. I unbuckled myself and smiled a little, relaxing as the others began a slow yet steady stream towards the exit of the plane. It would take a while for the others to get off the plane, but since I was by myself and had no particular place to be quickly other than at the HQ, I knew I had time to spare. With a whistle of a little tune, I grinned before closing my eyes. No need to be completely depressed, after all. Not at this time!

**Airport Lobby**

"Alia, do you really think it was a good idea to go ahead and do this? I mean... I don't think his last memories of me were all that, ah... well, good." Ayumi commented, as they waited in the lobby outside of the gate. The two were just standing against a glass railing, watching as the door that lead out to the connecting tunnel from the airplane opened and the first people walked out from it. Ayumi was watching intently, trying to find her best friend among the crowd, but no sign of him yet.

"Relax, Ayumi. We'll see him before he sees us. But..." the pink-armored reploid trailed off, glancing over to her friend. "Are you sure you want to join the hunters too? I mean, we recreated your body to higher specifications than your original was. You'd probably do well, but are you sure that you'd like to be a hunter?" Alia asked her. There was a look of concern that Ayumi noticed on her face, and then the brunette smiled slowly before answering with a nod.

It took a moment before Ayumi gathered enough nerve to actually say anything to her. "Alia. Arik is my only friend, has been my friend for over half a year. Everyone else we knew were killed by Gravity Beetle's attack. His parents, our friends, the entire school we'd gone to." she told the younger Reploid, who simply nodded slowly in response. "I saved him from the train crash, even if the only part of him that was not horribly damaged and crushed had been his mind. I figure that I owe him, though I don't know why I'm thinking that."

Alia nodded slightly, once more, and then set her hand on the brunette's shoulder. There was a transfer of information, and Alia grinned slowly. "Hey... you don't need to tell me everything, ya know. Tell ya what, Ayumi." she started, and she winked at the girl before giving her a thumbs-up. _I gotta stop hanging out around Douglas_, she thought, even as she put together her next words. "I'll set you up with him in the same testing unit, okay? We'll get you both started around headquarters, and see where you guy's fit in, all right?"

Ayumi smiled at that, and nodded in return. _Sounds perfect_, she thought, even as she looked away from the blonde that was resting beside her against the railing. She smiled still, watching as the humans got off the plane. Her friend... how would he react to seeing her? _I don't even want to think he'd be afraid of me_! That thought took the smile off of her face, and she closed her eyes as she leaned there with Alia. But... _what if he does react like that_? "I... still don't know." Ayumi said, quietly. She couldn't tell if her friend could hear that, even as she opened her eyes to look to the floor.

"Hm... is that him?" Alia asked, still watching the opening as the trickle of humanity that had flooded from the door lessened. It wasn't all that unusual that someone might wait until the end, simply because getting out to begin with, unless sitting in an aisle seat, it was difficult to get out of a plane any earlier than you otherwise would be able to. She had seen a picture of the boy in question, one that had been sent to her along with the documentation that she'd received, but since Ayumi was here and actually knew what the guy looked like, there was no need to access the file. _Not yet, at least_.

Ayumi glance up sharply, her eyes looking towards the arrivals. "Where?" she asked quietly, though quickly. Alia smiled slightly and shook her head almost imperceptibly. _The girl obviously liked the guy too much_, she thought to herself. Reploids and humans being intrigued by one another wasn't an unusual thing, but full-out love was rather difficult to find between them, because of how most humans tended to view reploids, despite the fact that they were practically the same in every way other than construction. Reploids were man-made. Humans are constructs as well, according to their gods, but certainly not in the same way. _But that is a mess best left alone_, she thought as she smiled wryly.

**On the Plane**

I got off the plane after almost ten minutes of waiting for most of the others to leave. With a sigh, I found myself in the aisle as I pulled my duffel bag out from the overhead compartment. I grinned slightly, remembering how I once had trouble getting luggage out from it and into it, not so long ago. _Yet another thing to be grateful about: the extra few inches of height that my new body afforded me_. I chuckled as I slung the bag over my shoulder and headed on towards the exit.

_I really can't believe it... Japan_! It was pretty humid, I thought, as I looked out the windows that lined the tunnel that stretched from the lobby I was walking towards now to the airplane that I just got out of. Dark and wet, unsurprisingly. I checked the weather reports earlier, while on the plane, and it had been raining like crazy. _Probably the reason for the turbulence_, I thought, _as we descended from the high altitudes that we had been flying at_. With a shrug, I shifted the practically non-existent weight that was upon my back- yet another thing to be glad for, really. I walked from out of the tunnel, one of the last to emerge, and I wandered off to the side to a vacant area that had just been created by a departing family of people.

They looked like tourists, I thought, and I smiled a little. _I wish I could take some time and do some sightseeing as well_. I remember hearing that the Light Labs facility had been found, and restored into a museum after Dr. Cain had found Mega Man X. _I'd love to take a tour of that place, as well as look around New Tokyo in general_! With a sigh, I looked about the place slowly, and found myself where there was quite a number of Reploid energy signatures. In fact, the largest number I'd ever had the chance to discover ever since having the sensors installed. It _made sense, really, since this was the country where Reploids were first created_.

Looking around, I found a pair of reploids over by a glass railing- one seemed like a newer model, but the other... _Wait, that one looked awfully similar to Ayumi_! A first generation reploid alongside a possible seventh or eighth generation model... seventh, was according to my readings. I shrugged slightly, looking away as I frowned a little bit. _I suppose first generation models are more common around here than anywhere else_, I thought. I couldn't help but to think about Ayumi again, and sighed a little. I winced as a sudden buzzer sound flared in my mind, and I groaned a little as I raised a hand up to hold my head. _Damn, that's loud_! A new message, I saw, and I opened it up as I closed my eyes.

_What in the **HELL**!_ It was a message sent by the same person as before, and it had been set up as a prank of some sort to set off that annoying buzzer. The message, sent by that same person- a prank name? No... I opened my eyes as I looked back towards the two reploids at the glass railing, and I blinked in surprise as the first generation reploid waved at me. I gritted my teeth as I shook my head slowly before I headed over towards them. _If this is going to be something I'd have to deal with, some sort of prank from someone at the MHHQ who knew about my friendship with a reploid gone maverick, I'll be on the first flight back to America tomorrow_!

With a shrug, I walked towards the two. I glanced to the barely shorter reploid with blonde hair, and then to the brunette. It was an uncanny resemblance, even for first generation reploids, I considered, and then I blinked. Wait a sec... _She's not a first generation reploid_, I realized, as I noticed a few design differences that would be rather imperceptible to anyone who hadn't spent too much time around that generation of reploid. I bowed to the two slightly, unsure of the customs that the maverick hunters followed, but the blonde just waved that off easily enough. "Relax, we're just here to pick you up, not to stand at attention. That's tomorrow, ya know." she commented, a grin on her face as she looked to the brunette, and then to me again. "I'm Alia." _It was just my luck_, I thought, _as I realized that she was speaking in American English_.

I nodded to Alia, and smiled slightly. At least, she didn't seem to be the one who was sending me the prank messages. The brunette was looking my way, and I looked to her, locking eyes for a moment. We were like that for a few seconds before I stepped back slowly, my balancers all of a sudden going out of complete and total control as I felt myself about to fall. With a groan, I stepped back with my right foot, propping myself up quickly so that I wouldn't actually fall as I felt the surprise in my head finally register through the shock that I felt.

The reploid in front of me nodded slightly, and as if to read my thoughts, sent me another message. An affirmative, and the blonde looked between us as she sensed the wireless communication link between the two of us. Alia smirked slightly and shook her head slowly. "I figured this would happen. Come on, you two. I can tell you've got a lot to talk about. And I'll be able to fill you both in on the details, if necessary. Okay?" she said, tugging on Ayumi's right arm before reaching for my left arm to drag us on out from the terminal. I, still in the state of shock that I was in, numbly followed by using quick and heavy steps after the blonde and brunette reploids. The only word that I had left in my shattered mind was simple. _How?_

**Escaping the plane**

It took almost 20 minutes to wade through the mass of humanity and reploids that were all around in the airport. But eventually they made it out to the parking structure, and into the car that had been borrowed from the hunter's vehicle bay. During that entire time, I eventually came to grips with the fact that Ayumi was, in fact, sitting beside me. And the explanation that was given while Alia drove was nonetheless strange to my ears. My eyes were closed as my mind attempted to take in the facts. _Let's see: Ayumi wasn't completely taken over by the virus. Her mind was saved before being completely corrupted. Her body had been corrupted first, and as such, had required replacements. Her entire body had been replaced!_

I shivered a little- the story seemed awfully familiar, somehow. Like mine, I realized, and I watched Ayumi for a moment after it had become quiet. She was watching me, had been watching me, to see how I would take the news. Was this really her? There was almost no way to tell, really. She seemed a bit different, physically, and I had to find out that it was her, and not some prank. "Ayumi... if it's really you, then what's.." and I didn't get any further, as she smiled slowly and answered the question I was about to ask her anyway.

"Science, right? Don't worry a bit about it Arik, I'll make sure you get caught up." she said, word for word the same words she had used to tell me that she'd help me with science if I helped her with English. I blushed and then smiled as I reached towards her with a shaking hand, fingertips lightly brushing against the sleeve of her shirt as I tried to realize, once and for all, if this was the friend who had saved me once before. My fingertips pressed more fully, feeling the syntheflesh more easily now beneath the sleve that was on her arm, and she just seemed to smile softly as she allowed me to do that. The contact brought up my internal scanners, and they relayed to my mind what I had figured out as well, providing double the evidence.

_It is Ayumi_! I stared at her, the shock still in place but beginning to fade as I watched the reploid beside me, wide-eyed. She leaned over suddenly and grabbed me up in a hug, embracing me while I just basically sat there, trying to come to terms with the fact that she was alive, and here, right now. I hadn't expected this in the least, mostly because I thought she had been scrapped. I opened my eyes after a moment and leaned back, away from her, and she caught on quickly as she released me from her grasp and smiled to me. "I thought... I really thought you were dead, Ayumi." I managed to whisper, and she shook her head, seeming a lot more like her old self now than she had been a moment ago as she grinned.

"Nope. Nearly was, but then Alia and Douglas managed to save me. Dr. Cain, too." she replied, and I blinked as she mentioned the name of not only our driver (who was by now blushing a little and attempting to protest her involvement like that), but the name of the man who had originally found Mega Man X. She saw the look on my face and giggled a little bit before shaking her head slowly. "Yeah... I'm sure you've noticed by now that I look a lot more human than I did before, right? Dr. Cain and Douglas managed to manufacture these new parts themselves, and even footed the bill somewhat."

I nodded, shock still in my system, though it didn't take long for it to filter out from me as I smiled slowly. "Really? And you've met Dr. Cain, too? Next, you'll tell me that you've met Commander Mega Man X, right?" I asked, sarcasm in my voice as I assumed she was just trying to get a fast one by me. Nothing doing, I thought, even as I watched her head move up and down slowly as she nodded in response to my sarcastic question. My little smile evaporated into a look of awe- _she had met X_?

"Yes, he was there when we reactivated her. Just in case, you know, we were wrong about having purged the virus from her matrices. Turns out we were right, and you should've seen the look on your friend's face when we activated her systems for the first time." Alia informed me from the driver's seat, and I chuckled softly as I could just picture the scene in my head. I glanced to Alia, and then back to Ayumi as she squirmed in the seat of the car slowly, and I laughed.

"Oh, come on Ayumi." I told her, patting her shoulder reassuringly as I attempted to stay caught up with the current events. She smacked my hand with a small smile, which I withdrew quickly from her immediate range with a shocked look on my face. That look lasted all of a few seconds before I grinned, and we both laughed a little bit. "Well, she was there when my new body was activated for the first time. Wish I'd known that you were still alive. I was beating myself up 'cause I thought you were gone, you know. Why didn't you e-mail me?"

Ayumi blinked and then shook her head slowly. "Your e-mail server was located in Doppler Town, Arik. That e-mail address of yours is long gone now." she informed me, and I winced slightly. _Well, that explains why the site was down for maintenance_, I thought, and I shrugged slowly. "Besides, I know your communications port number, so I could get ahold of you directly." she reminded me now, and I smiled sheepishly as I remembered the messages that she had obviously sent me during the plane ride and when she got my attention in the terminal.

"Oh, and that reminds me... never buzz me like that again!" I told her, faking anger in my voice and face as I saw her blink and scoot back again. Then she seemed to remember, and I saw a meek smile appear on her face before she nodded slowly at my words. I chuckled softly, and then shook my head at my friend. "That was a very loud buzz. Remember, I'm still integrating with my systems, okay? I've got no Roy left, so I've gotta figure out how to change the volume on that myself. So until I figure it out, don't buzz me."

"Oh, your tutorial system has purged already? If we give you a few days, I suppose that's long enough to figure out just where you'll fit in, now won't it?" Alia called back, a smile on the blonde's face. "Both of you, that is. Welcome home." she said, and turned off of the freeway to pull onto a long, long drive. There was a large building in the distance. Several of them, in fact. They were huge, and according to sign, it was 10 miles until they arrived at their destination. The windshield wipers went by along the windshield occasionally as the rain lessened, and Arik smiled a little as he looked at a place he had once only seen pictures of before.

"Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Of course, I don't usually take the land route, but until your systems are upgraded, there's just no getting around it. Founded back when Dr. Cain first learned that reploids were going maverick. Original leader of the hunters was, of course, Sigma, and then Zero took over. Now, Dr. Cain is in charge of the Maverick Hunters, as well as being our political liason with the rest of the world as we take down the mavericks where and when we can, along with the Repliforce." Alia informed the two of them. "The buildings to the north are the R&D facilities, as well as extensions of Cain Labs. To the west, furthest from us, are the dormitories. To the south are the training facilities, where you'll both be spending most of your days after this until we've decided what to do with ya. Closest to us would be the recreational facilities and the portions of our complex that are open to the public. Of course, very few people care to get too close to us. I dunno, maybe it's the burning ozone?" she asked, and I grinned slightly.

_Burning ozone... a tell-tale sign of a buster having been fired_. Then, I realized something, and looked to Ayumi, who simply nodded slightly. _Damned reploid mind of hers_, I thought, even as I figured it out. She was joining up as well? At least now I knew someone here, I figured, and smiled in return before looking back to Alia. "How are we going to go about the testing and such?" I asked the blonde reploid, who chuckled a little bit before giving a little shrug in response.

"Now, now. I'm not authorized to give out that kind of information. But we're not the military, so you don't have to worry about doing push-ups and stuff like that. That much, I can tell you. Besides, we need to upgrade your hardware first. Armor plating, strengthening your shell beneath the syntheflesh. It'll take a day or two at most in order to fully outfit your body to be able to cope with what the mavericks will be able to throw against ya. Ayumi's fine- all we had available when recreating her was military-grade hardware, after all." Alia said, and I nodded slightly. I had a few ideas of what could be done, and I smiled a little bit.

"I've got a bit of experience with some systems engineering and repair, Alia. I'm not saying that I want to be a technician," and I trailed off for a moment as I remembered my parents. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked to Ayumi as she squeezed my shoulder softly. She knew, quite well, what I was talking about. "But, if possible, I'd like to try something that might be a little unusual when it comes to armament. I know, I'm probably not going to have access to attempting anything, but I've had some ideas in mind for a while now that I would at least like to run by someone." I finished, smiling a little bit. Of course, I doubted that as a new recruit, I'd have the opportunity to come up with my own weapons and whatnot.

"Well, I can at least let you talk to Douglas, I guess. The techs here are the ones who approve of weapon changes from the standard busters, after all. Since you are a cyborg, I don't see a problem with that. A buster would only drain your power generator too quickly to restore all systems energy, after all, unless it was a powered-down buster." was the reply, as the buildings got larger. _Almost there_, I thought to myself, and I couldn't help but continue to smile as I watched some flying reploids over the buildings as they stood guard over the complex.

I felt a small pulse in my mind, and I closed my eyes as I allowed the transmission to arrive. I smiled a little as I saw Ayumi form in my mind quickly, much faster than the one time that we had talked like this before, when my body had first been activated. "Arik... I hope you don't mind that I'll be joining you as a maverick hunter." she said, and I shook my head in reply. "Good. I want to be around people I know, and since you're here, there's no real reason to head back to Doppler Town, is there?" she asked. I nodded slightly at her words.

"That's very true, Ayumi. That's why I'm here, too. Especially now. My family didn't even check up on me, so I guess they think that I'm dead or something. At least I've still got a friend here though, right?" I asked in reply, and she faded from sight quickly. It took only a moment before I felt an arm around my waist to draw me close, and my eyes opened as I felt her other arm move about me to embrace me once more. _She was pretty warm_, I noticed- _warmer than I had ever felt her to be before_. _Must be the upgrades_, I considered, as I smiled softly and hugged her in return.

"Well now, you two. You may want to not do that in public like this." came Alia's voice, and both cyborg and reploid began to blush as they immediately let go of one another before taking their seatbelts off as she pulled them into the vehicle bay. The shutters behind them quickly closed, and Alia gave a little giggle as she stepped out of the car. "Just kidding, guys. But really, lay off the intimacies until you get a room." she said, and I rolled my eyes as Ayumi sat there, stunned and blushing at the same time.

"Ayumi! Come on, time to get out of the car!" I exclaimed, even as I turned to get out of the vehicle. I took one deep breath, and nearly coughed as what Alia had said came to mind- _burnt ozone_. I knew my filters would adjust to this unfortunate turn of events, and I breathed lightly as I looked back to Ayumi as I grabbed the duffel bag again, slinging it over my shoulder. She was getting out of the car now, slowly, and she stretched as she closed the door behind her. I closed my door as well, and looked to Alia to see where she would be leading us to now.

"Come on, you two. There are some people here who would like to have a word with each of you." Alia said, and led us down the bay corridor towards the building that I had seen this vehicle bay attached to. There was a whirring of machines behind us, and I turned in time to see that the car had disappeared underneath a pair of shutters that were closing into place above where I had seen the top portion of the car move into beneath them. I looked to Ayumi at that information, and she looked back to me and shrugged. She looked, for all the world, as confused as I was right now, as we followed the blonde reploid down to the corridor that led deeper into the base.

**Conference Center**

In the somewhat large room that Alia had led the two of us, I sat down in the reinforced chair while we were instructed to wait. Obviously, there was someone needing to speak with us, but whoever it was was certainly late. There was a rhythmic, almost metallic 'tapping' sound easily audible upon the cold, uncarpeted floor of the room as we waited, and after being glared at by Alia, I smiled sheepishly and forced myself to stop doing that. "Sorry... old habit." I informed her, and chuckled nervously as I glanced to Ayumi. She seemed to be doing fine, but I still couldn't get over what had happened.

_Hadn't I... attacked her? Hadn't she been deactivated or killed even, after Lifesaver saved me_? I looked away slowly and back towards the large screen embedded in the wall. This didn't seem to be the time for some sort of sarcastic humor, though the thought of saying something about a big screen TV did come to mind easily enough. I couldn't help the small smile that managed to escape onto my face, but as I remembered Ayumi being right next to me, the smile didn't last long at all. I closed my eyes to think about it, but then I heard a door open. My sensors picked up somewhat heavy footsteps along with the heat signature of a human before the reploid.

The odd pair made me answer by opening my eyes and glancing over to them. And there, I saw a pair of people that only people in the few countries that denied technology wouldn't possibly know. I heard a small gasp from beside me, and I could tell that Ayumi had also noticed the pair who had entered the room. Alia was saluting the two, and the reploid that came in behind the human replied with the same before smiling a little, almost as if the salute was some sort of joke. The first was an elderly man, obviously getting on in years. His characteristic beard and cane told me also of who he was, but most importantly was the fact of where we were. Dr. Cain, obviously. Originally a paleo-botanist... or something like that. The records from several years ago were a bit sketchy, especially ever since he discovered the person behind him.

Dr. Cain was being followed by a blue armored reploid, and out of habit I swallowed nervously. How exactly does one meet the original reploid, the one from whom all others owed their existence? And the one whom I owed my remaining humanity to as well, thanks to the advances in technology that had been brought about by the creation of reploids. I was now about 90 percent reploid, as far as I knew from what I'd been told by Lifesaver. They walked over to the table, in front of us yet on the other side, before they sat down. Alia shut the door behind them, locking it from the sound that I could pick up from that direction.

That was unusual, I thought, even as Dr. Cain cleared his throat to get my attention. I looked back to him, and was surprised to see him watching the two of us carefully. "I think I should mention that what is said here, in private, should remain this way." he told us as he spoke in American English, and I simply nodded in reply. _No worries there_, I thought, as I imagined that Ayumi did the same. Strangely, his voice had no actual accent, and he did look like he was from America to begin with. _Perhaps he's American, and just began to live here after finding X_, I considered, even as Dr. Cain smiled grimly, and then nodded himself. "I want to let you both know that this boy here could be in for a rough time with the Maverick Hunters. It is not too late to leave if you want to, but you will need to be made aware of several important things, Arik." the old man said, and I couldn't help but to blink in surprise. _He knew my name_?

He seemed to pick up on that, and a soft chuckle escaped the old human. "Yes, I know your name. Remember, I run the Maverick Hunters somewhat, and I have access to many of their files. Besides, my memory isn't that far gone yet, young man." he said, and I couldn't help but to smile at his candor. "Arik, you're not going to be the first cyborg that we've had here, but you are the most reploid of the few who have come to the Maverick Hunters. Most of your body, from the report we've gathered on your construction, was forced to be converted into a reploid's body. Because of this, you will be much better suited to our organization than most of the others were, but there is another reason why I am speaking to you like this."

After a short pause and the pouring of water into a glass, he took a small sip before continuing. "Arik, the fact is that the Global Council has been trying to infiltrate our organization with their own spies. Ever since they took over the need for the world's military defense forces, they've desperately been trying to learn how we can be as good as we are here. Despite the latest infiltration, that is, our response times and ability to defeat the maverick have been three times better than what the military can boast. Not even the Repliforce, our comrades, have records that are as good or even close to them." The old man smiled wryly at these facts. "Now, though we are proud of our record, we cannot have anyone from the outside attempting to gather data about us. Our organization is barely able to keep from being absorbed by the Global Council's military, thanks mostly to the reputation of our Maverick Hunters. Namely, X and Zero."

"The only true black spot on our record is Sigma, of course. But the main concern is this: Because of your ability to blend in with the maverick Hunters, Arik, thanks to how much of your body had to be replaced, you will undoubtedly be contacted by the Global Council. They will attempt to get you to spy for them, I believe, and they will use whatever information that they can get their hands on to force us to either disband or join them." The old man seemed to know how best to let information sink in to those who were listening, for he took a long drink from his glass of water to allow the situation to become apparent to those who were sitting across from him. After a sigh and a deep breath, he continued once more.

"I am not about to tell you what to do, Arik. But I simply wanted to warn you about what will very likely happen in a short amount of time. I would certainly prefer that you do not simply give them what they want, of course, but I shall leave what happens to you. If we become absorbed by the military, I'll find out who to blame in due course, but I believe I can trust you to make a decision yourself." the old man grinned slightly, the uplifting of his mustache and beard giving him a rather unusual look on his face.

"Oh... and I suppose I've yet to introduce us, haven't I? I bet you've figured it out by now, but this is Mega Man X beside me, and I'm Dr. Cain. You both obviously know Alia by the door, I'm sure. X here was present for Ayumi's re-activation here, as I was as well." he said, and a giggle escaped Alia as she stood by the door. X just grinned and shook his head slowly, and the two reactions surprised both myself and Dr. Cain, it seemed. "What? I was there, remember?" he insisted, to which Alia began laughing at and X just sighed softly.

"Come on, you were asleep half the time after the connections had been made, doctor. You remember that, don't you?" the blue reploid replied, to which I glanced to Ayumi and saw her grinning. I looked back to Dr. Cain, and shook my head slowly. Was it possible that he was incorrect... or, wait. I could see the grin on X's face, which made me think that maybe...

"Jeez! I know I was awake this time! I was the one who asked Alia to turn all the connections on. I know I remember that!" he exclaimed, and X began to laugh loudly in reply. The good doctor just sighed in response as he realized what was going on. Of course, the small smile that was on Cain's face made me think it was a good thing that X was having a good time... or something like that, anyway. "Dammit, can't you two please let me remember things the right way? As if Zero wasn't bad enough, I've gotta worry about you, too, huh? I knew that having Zero around you would be a bad influence, X."

At this time, there was another sound of laughter that I could easily recognize. It was Ayumi, and I couldn't help but to smile finally as I shook my head slowly. "Doctor Cain... all joking aside, I do understand what you're talking about, and I can tell ya right now that I never did like what the GC has been doing lately. All those tax hikes, ya know." I told him, and it took a second for the little joke to make the old man grin in response. It was true, though it was only a very minor thing that had happened in response to everything else that the GC had instigated. Attempting to create their own divisions to deal with the Mavericks had caused all sorts of rises in taxes as a result of paying for everything.

"Heh... I see. Well, that's good, my boy." he said, and I nodded to him in response. The sound of two laughing reploids, and a giggling one beside me made me shake my head slowly as I smiled. _The laughter is almost infectious_, I thought, as I managed to keep myself from actually laughing. It wasn't too hard- I hadn't been in the mood to laugh all that much as of late, after all. "Oh, and I suppose X shall have to tell you about the testing that you'll be forced to endure tomorrow and possibly the next day." Cain commented, and I shrugged slightly. That seemed to snap X out of his little reverie, though, and he turned to actually look both myself and Ayumi before speaking up finally.

"That's right... tomorrow you'll be going through quite a few tests. The first one will be to see how well you can do with certain weapons. Old style rifles, rotary cannons, even an energy weapon if we can get your frame's overhaul done in time. There're all sorts of testing to be done on the weapons field, of course. After that, we'll see how you can handle incoming data transmissions, sensor grids, and see how you can do when it comes to a mock fight against a maerick general." the original reploid informed me, and I nodded slowly.

"We'll also test your ability to run diagnostics on parts and such. We've heard that your parents were technicians, so we'd at least like to see how you would do in such a position, if you wouldn't mind." he said, and then the look on X's face softened a bit. "However, we can pass that test if you choose that you do not wish to become a technician, alright?" he offered, and I thought about it for a moment. Working _with reploids to repair reploids was what my parents did in Doppler Town_. How they had figured that out, I didn't know, but I could guess. _Perhaps someone knew of my parents..._? Probably they figured out from asking Ayumi questions. I looked to Ayumi, and she nodded slowly- a shade of red was on her cheeks as she did that, and that in itself answered my question.

I looked back to X and shook my head slowly. "I don't mind. I'd rather not be a technician, but I don't mind being tested for that position." I said carefully- I wasn't sure if I was to call him 'Commander,' or just simply 'X.' He nodded, however, and shrugged slightly before continuing to tell me about the different tests that I and Ayumi would be put through.

"You'll be shut down tonight, and your frame strengthened to match that strength which is available to cyborgs through the newest process provided by Cain Labs. By the time you wake in the morning, you'll be a bit stronger than you were... We'll also have to start working on some sort of plans for armor for you as well, no matter where you end up." X commented, and I nodded once more as I sighed softly. _I hate being shut down_! But I knew that it was required, in order to integrate any new systems or parts into my body.

"That's fine, I guess. If it needs done, it needs done. I just hope whoever's in charge remembers the life support systems need to be powered." I replied, sighing softly in response. It was pretty obvious to the others in the room that I was trying to be upbeat about this, even though I couldn't really bring myself to actually be that way. It was just something I wasn't really sure about, being so close to death. I'd been there once before, and being on an external power supply was just like being on some sorts of life support beyond the normal that I had to put up with now. I wouldn't even be able to converse with Roy, who had been deleted only a few hours ago. Integration had been completed, and so with that system purged from me, I was now completely independant of any sort of over-riding reploid mind. Not even the virus could be reconfigured to infiltrate a cyborg mind, after all.

"Don't worry. Douglas will be in charge. Despite being a new model, he seems to know just how to do what he does without as much experience as our older techs. He'll be overseen by other specialists, too. You'll be in good hands. I doubt we'll be needing a whole lot to worry about right now, so it's not like they'll be doing a rush job or anything." Cain spoke up, as X blinked, and then stood up. "Somthing wrong, X?" Cain asked, watching as the blue-armored reploid nodded to him before stepping away.

"Yes, I've just been called to deal with a disturbance in Hong Kong. Something about four mavericks going around blasting everything in sight. I should be back soon." X said, and he looked to both Ayumi and myself before smiling a little. "It was good to meet you both. Perhaps we'll be able to meet again sometime." he said, and then he vanished in a blue stream of light that headed towards the ceiling. I watched the entire process- it was the first time that I'd seen a reploid or anything actually teleport away, so I was awestruck by the sight for a few seconds.

"Hm... Well, we'd better get you to the repair facility to get everything ready, Arik. You're gonna have a long day tomorrow." Dr. Cain said after a moment, and I looked to him as I tried to repress the fear I felt in the back of my mind. I nodded slowly, and stood up after the old man did. He stretched out a hand from his side, the one that he didn't use with his cane to help provide support to keep him standing and walking upright. I grasped his hand gently, being very careful with the one who created the reploid race as I shook his hand for a few seconds before we mutually withdrew our hands again.

"It was nice to meet you, Dr. Cain. It's been an honor." I said to him, and the old man laughed aloud for the first time. I was taken aback by his response, and I shrugged slowly as he shook his head. Both of his hands clutched the cane that was held before him now, and then his right hand separated to be moved to his side while the left clutched the top of the cane while he began to walk from around the table towards the door, the bottom tip of the cane tapping along the floor.

"Now, now, don't say that. You'll be here a while longer at least, and I think I can spare time away from the GC lapdogs to check in on you once or twice. At the very least to make sure that Zero hasn't attempted to test you in anything..." he laughed as he said that, and I couldn't help but to grin. _The one-time leader of the maverick hunters... why in the hell would he bother with someone like me, eh_? I couldn't help but to shake my head at Dr. Cain's words, and he just laughed harder. I looked over to Alia or a second, and she just shrugged as she shook her head. So _she didn't know what was so funny, either, obviously_.

"Don't worry about it unless he does attempt to give you a test tomorrow. I'm fairly certain he has the day off, so you should be fine, really." Dr. Cain said, as he started towards the door. "Alia, please guide Arik here to Douglas' team, okay? I think I'm late for a meeting with the GC. Again." he commented, and with a grin the balding old man walked out from the now unlocked door and down the hall. Alia nodded as she watched the old human head down the corridor, towards the elevator that would take him to a different conference room that was set up for the transmission meetings that he often had with the people who always seemed to attempt to pull the Maverick Hunters into the military.

Alia looked back to us as we stood there... and before she could say anything, I had to stretch slowly. I hadn't the chance earlier, they knew, and the jetlag was getting to me. Maybe a full shutdown wouldn't be so bad, I mused, since I was so tired now. "Alright you two. Ayumi, you know where your room is, so Arik, just come and follow me to the workbay. By tomorrow, you should be able to compete with most of the reploids here... well, except maybe our unit leaders and a few others, anyway." she said, and I shrugged slightly. I somehow doubted that I'd excel in a certain few positions, like that test regarding data transmissions and such.

"Alright, Alia. Arik, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Ayumi said to me, and I looked back to her before I nodded in agreement. She smiled and then walked out of the room before Alia and I actually walked out as well, and I followed Alia down a different corridor than the one Ayumi walked along. This floor seemed to be rather deserted, I thought, as I was led to an elevator and soon we were off to the workshop that this 'Douglas' seemed to be in charge of. My mind wandered to the turn of events that had come up today- I'd met Dr. Cain and Mega Man X. I'd always thought that X was extremely busy, but he seemed to still be a good person even after saving the world three times in a row.

"What's wrong, Arik? You seem to have a lot on your mind... care to talk about it?" Alia asked, and I blinked as I stopped staring at the wall to turn and look at her. I shook my head slowly, my eyesight focusing slowly before I sighed. "Well, if you do want to talk about it sometime, be sure to get hold of Ayumi. I'm usually pretty busy around here, but I'm sure you'll be more comfortable speaking with her than with someone like myself." she commented, and I smiled weakly at her humor. _True_, I thought. _But that doesn't mean I can talk to her about everything_.

"I guess so... I don't like being shut down, Alia. It feels like I might die if I am. I've already been close to there once, after all." I told her, voicing the fear that I didn't want to admit but knew I should anyway. _If I should die before I wake_, I thought to myself wryly. _Would god take the soul of one so changed from the human norm_? It was an unusual thought, one I hadn't entertained before, but I just shook my head slowly. "I'm certain that it is possible. I know it's unlikely, though, but I still don't want to be fully shut down. I've been disaccociated with my body before, and look where I am now!" I told her, and chuckled softly at that.

Alia gave me a small smile and shook her head slowly. "We have state of the art facilities for humans, reploids, and cyborgs, Arik. You shouldn't worry so much, because we are the forefront of technology here, thanks to Dr. Cain. There's no way that you would die on our watch, my friend. We hunters don't let each other die." she told me, and I nodded slowly, somewhat reassured by her words. _I was hardly a hunter yet_, I wanted to say, but knew that that wouldn't make a difference. We arrived on the ground floor, and I hefted the mostly forgotten duffel bag that was held beneath my arm as the elevator door slid open.

We stepped out, and I found myself looking to a familiar hawk-like reploid. The reploid's armor looked familiar, at least, and I nodded politely to the reploid as Alia led me down the hallway. The reploid nodded to me in return, and we passed by one another without any sort of incident at all. Though I couldn't know it, she was watching me as she waited for the elevator doors to close, and then was out of my sensor range, which was already limited by the way that the grounds were designed.

"We'll have to go off to the buildings that are to the north, since R&D is where our workbays are located. I certainly hope that you'll be able to upgraded enough to actually teleport, I'd hate to be someone who can't teleport at all. Walking is definitely not my style... at least, not such long distances." she commented, and I chuckled softly. She'd _never make it as a human then_, I told myself, as a smile at last spread on my face. While humans did drive vehicles and tended to make things easier for themselves, many did enjoy exercise still, even these days.

"Well, I suppose if I can be teleported to places, that'll allow me to actually have a better chance of placement in certain areas here, won't it?" I asked, and she nodded in reply as her short blonde hair swayed with the breeze as we found ourselves outside. I looked around, and found that all over the place, there were all sorts of reploids. A giant dragon reploid was outside, probably going over diagnostics or something while a unit or two were on the training grounds, practicing their melee skills with beam sabers and such.

"That's very true. If you choose to work as a hunter rather than a repairman or anything like that and you can't teleport, you'll probably wind up being a guard on a base or something." she replied, and I shrugged a little. A guard on a base... certainly the less likely of the two possibilities as a hunter, to be attacked by mavericks. Active hunters and Semi-active hunters, I classified them, and being a guard would firmly plant me into the latter of the two types of Maverick Hunters. I blinked as my sensors registered some sort of plasmic fire being launched, and I looked back to the training site as I saw some humanoid dragon-like reploid blast what looked like a fireball towards his opponent.

"Isn't that supposed to be simple melee training, not some sort of projectile practice?" I asked, and my sensors picked up Alia as she came to stand beside me to see who it was... and then she shook her head as I looked at her while waiting for her reply. Surprisingly, she seemed to recognize the reploid who had produced the fireball, and who was now helping the person he had struck with it back up to his or her feet.

"Yeah. But for Magma Dragoon there, he thinks that they're the same, basically. He likes to play some ancient arcade game called Street Fighter when he has time off, and I think that game has affected his processors. If you ever practice with him, watch out for that." she said, with almost a hint of disgust in her voice that I could barely discern. I nodded slowly, remembering that game from a very long time ago... _hadn't I played it once, back when I was about 6 or 7_? But then, as I followed after Alia, I realized that there really weren't many reploids nearly that old. _Maybe X was_, I told myself, _but the others are all younger than him_.

We continued on, walking further north and past the outskirts of the R&D labs. Some reploids were riding in Ride Armor, and some were scooting alongs slowly in Land Chasers as well, obviously out on patrols. _I couldn't wait to try piloting any of those_, I thought to myself, and I smiled a little as I looked back to watch Alia ahead of me so I wouldn't get lost. I'_d yet to be given a map yet or anything... hopefully, they'd give me one in the morning_, I thought. I didn't want to get lost at all, and come morning, eating in the cafeteria would probably come in useful because I was, after all, stuck with a power generator for providing all my energy requirements.

"Alright, here we are." Alia proclaimed, and she turned as she motioned for me go on ahead. She seemed to be forcing herself to smile, and I did the same thing as I walked into the repair bay. The slid open as I walked to it, and when I walked into the shop, it slid shut. Then, I felt blackness overtake me, and I couldn't see, hear, or feel anything anymore. Anything, that is, save for when my face hit the floor of the workshop, and then I didn't fel anything after that.

**Author's Note**: Hmm... slower than usual, wasn't it? But still, I have to admit, I didn't expect to put quite this much conversation into the fic. A meeting of several main characters at once can do that, I guess (and I have to admit, I don't usually have so many different main characters at once in a single scene, either). The next chapter will deal more with the tests that they'll be taking. And yes, I think Zero may make an appearance again. Again, reviews are welcome, as are flames (though I haven't received a flame for this fic yet... hehe). Suggestions are also accepted, but not through reviews. E-mail the suggestions to me, or through IM on yahoo if you're lucky enough to catch me online sometime. Good luck with that last, though. Over 10,000 words this time! lol

**Review Responses**:

**Chaos Emerald Guardian**- Thanks for the review. I'm glad you're enjoying the fic.

**Solarious**- Yeah, I know Reploid Anatomy 101. I mentioned that I took information from that series and another one back in Chapter 5. Menolly5600 is a very good author and manages to capture the technology possible by the series very well. As for the vague resemblance... Well, that's because we're two different authors. Thanks for reviewing.

**Cor Strike FX**- Thanks for reviewing. I do realize that the viewpoints change- I warned everyone back in chapters 1 and 5 about it. I've had a problem with switching back and forth at times without realizing it, and this is my attempt to fix the problem in a way that would be beneficial to the story itself.

**Zaisha**- I do agree about the Reploid spyware being a scary idea, but most likely, very possible if someone can do enough research into it.

**Jazzerman**- No stroke, fortunately.

**Delta X**- Yes, the poor cyborg got really freaked out. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to determine the time of the year, nor have I decided on a time of the year. Mostly because by this time, they have some sort of weather control grid in place over some of the cities on the planet. Because Doppler Town would have had one as well (being very advanced, after all), it would take a while for natural weather patterns to reassert themselves overhead. That's my excuse, anyway.

**Youshou Leviathan**- Thanks for reviewing again!

**Hotshot45**- Yes, I know about the Shinku Hadoken (I think I spelled it right). It's a 'hyper' move, and uses the attack bar that rises with the use of attacks from the character, as well as from hits that land on the character from the opponent. Pretty powerful stuff there, but let's remember that Blizzard Buffalo had a fairly similar move to that in X3. X didn't get that particular attack, unless you include the laser weapon from Izzy Glow in X5. And actually, I don't know a whole lot about the Street Fighter series- it's the Mega Man series in general that I know a lot more about!

**J**- Um... never seen the movie, actually, though I hear it's good. Oh well.

I am somewhat disappointed in this chapter, because I feel that I was unable to capture the true essence of shock value for Arik when he finally met with Ayumi. I've never had to provide a thorough feeling of depth for that particular emotion before, so I rather doubt that I managed to capture it at all this once.

I am actually rather surprised at how much I've been putting into this fic, despite working on a Fire Emblem 7 fic, as well as a surprising fic based off of the Monster Rancher games. I never thought I'd go back to that genre, but I have a feeling that it is actually possible to fully connect the worlds of Monster Rancher 1, 2 and 4 together. If any of you readers play those games, please read the fic when I do have the first chapter finished and posted- I can definitely use any feedback on the games that I can get. Sorry about how late this fic has been in getting posted, I kinda lost my ability to write anything dealing with Mega Man for a while there. Oh well.


	8. Testing 1, 2

Chapter 8

**Summary**:

**Author's Notes**: Wow... Looks like this thing is just gaining in popularity now. And even other fics that I've written seem to be taking off, too. Unfortunately, with the fact that I've been working on a new, original fic (something that I've wanted to do for a long time!), I've had very little time to work on a new chapter. Plus, I haven't had any ideas on how to continue this particular chapter until recently. Hopefully, I won't have the chapter go by so slowly this time, but I think I'll need to have the enhancements on Arik's reploid body explained somewhat. Let's just say that I haven't really had time to plan everything out yet, so chances are that by the end of the chapter, there'll be a few things that aren't completely explained... I'll do what I can, though.

Again, sorry about how long it took to update this. I've been going through a few things IRL, as well as playing around with ideas for a Tales of Symphonia fanfic that I may eventually write and post. Sorry! Looks like I'll be around more often from now on- I've got the internet at home now, so I'll definitely be online more than I have been in a long, long time.

**_Disclaimer_**: Once again, I have to go through this thing? At least I'm not bothered by any muses... I don't own the Mega Man X series of games. Never have, probably never will. Enjoy reading!

**The next day**

_Installation procedures in place._

_Installing updates for motor control and enhanced sensory network._

_Body design has been altered, resetting sensory network._

"Oh..." I moaned, my head hurting as the increased amount of information settling into the processors around my head began to catch up with me. I felt a hand near my forehead, and my eyes snapped open, almost immediately adjusting as I found myself wide awake much sooner than I usually was. Then I heard a voice, but I was unable to actually adjust my hearing in time to understand the words being said. My sight was a blurry too, and I couldn't even see for a moment. My installation procedures had mentioned all the changes that had taken place- auditory and visual sensors had been in the list.

"Gimme a sec." I said aloud, though how loudly I had said it was beyond me at this point. Three seconds or so later, everything snapped into place completely and I winced as my eyes adjusted into crystal clarity. There was a person beside me that I could see, even as I sat up on the bench that I'd been set on. Motor control was obviously working fine, I thought, as I glanced down to my body. First, there wasn't a single thing that looked different or seemed different, fortunately- no need for another ROY system, I figured, even as I swung my legs over the side. I looked over to the person I didn't know, the one who stood in front of me now as I sat upright on the table.

The person there was a reploid in green armor, with a pair of protective lenses that were just resting above his eyes. "Well now, this was the first time I've had to work with a cyborg. Hope everything is working out. What do you think, eh?" he asked me, and I shrugged slightly before I hopped off of the bench to land easily on the floor. Still the same height as before, I could tell (a few extra inches from what I once had been was nice!), and my recovery systems seemed to work fine as my balance was very easily restored. I ran a quick low level diagnostic, and then I nodded to the reploid as I smiled a little.

"Everything seems fine, though I'd like to see the person who just knocked me out when I first came in last night." I told the man- must be Douglas, I thought, remembering from Dr. Cain's words just who the reploid was who had been scheduled to work on me. I glared at the green armored reploid, and he quickly shook his head as he raised his hands, showing his palms with me as if to reassure me that he hadn't been the one to do it. "Hm... not you? Then who?" I asked quickly enough, still somewhat pissed off. It looked like he knew exactly what I was thinking- but with the way that I glared at him, I wouldn't be too surprised that that was the case. _It wasn't like I was trying to hide the fact that I didn't care to be knocked out for any reason, right_?

"Hey now, relax buddy. There's no reason to be all angry. After all, you would've had to be shut down anyway,right? Besides, if you check your internal logs, you'll see that nothing untoward happened during the installation of your reinforced parts." Douglas told me, and I looked up to the gray ceiling as I closed my eyes, accessing the logs. I also played back the scene of when I was knocked out, but that didn't give me any clues- no sound other than electrical whine, nothing on my sensors. "Anyway, the person who did do that is probably off laughing about it, if I know him." he said, and I sighed softly as my anger started to leave me finally.

"Yeah... I guess it was funny, to a certain point of view." I said, acknowledging that possibility. Douglas nodded in agreement, smiling widely as he watched me.

"Well, let's get you something to eat. Your body's just been through a major overhaul, and I'm sure that you'll need the energy. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all." I couldn't help but to grin at his words. Ah, when was the last time I'd heard that ancient phrase? He motioned to a table near the back of the repair bay, and there was a decent selection of breakfast items there. Pancakes, butter, syrup... Scrambled eggs, too.

"Hm, well, you're right. My mom used to say the same thing." I said, and somehow managed to keep a smile on my face as that particular word made me want to think about my parents. Douglas just laughed and told me to eat. "Well, what about you, eh?"

"Nah, I ate already. Besides, I gotta let the person who's going to show you know that you're almost ready for the tests to begin. I think they'll start you out on the weapons range today. I doubt that they'll have Alia test you for becoming an Operator- you've still got that old brain of yours, after all. Your system uses a lot of resources to just translate everything that you think about into actions. I think you've got more RAM in you than any average reploid!" Douglas said, and I couldn't help but to start laughing as I sat down on the chair at the table he'd motioned me to.

"You're a tech? You should be a comedian, Douglas!" I exclaimed, and that incited even more laughter from the reploid as I started eating. And then my eyes narrowed and my chewing on a pancake slowed... it wasn't exactly warm anymore. In fact, it was cold! And the butter wouldn't even melt on it... Ew. That was the only word that came to mind as I continued eating. _Breakfast is the most important meal of the day... but only when it's a good breakfast_! That was just something I came up with whenever I'd eaten something that Dad made for breakfast... Mom's meals were great, but Dad? His weren't even fit to toss out the window or give to a dog! I grew quiet as I kept eating, and I heard Douglas as he talked into a phone to someone.

Nothing that really concerned me, from what I could tell. Just talking to someone whose name I didn't recognize. My mind wandered away from being alert as I absently chewed on the pancake, making little headway into the barely heated insides of the bread-like substance. _Where is Ayumi_? I couldn't help but wonder as I slowly came to realize that I was feeling rather... cold. _That diagnostic that had run when I woke up had said something about resetting the sensory network, could that be it_? With a shrug, I brought myself to reality and finished off the pancake. It was the processes that I'd always taken for granted while growing up, I knew. I didn't have to eat anymore. Recharging for a few hours a night was all that was needed, truly. "So, what's first on the agenda?" I asked, looking over to Douglas as he set the phone receiver down. _Funny that they still had that system in place_, I considered, _since it would be just as simple to use his own internal communications device to get in touch with someone instead_.

"Well, first off is some basic testing. Synchronization rates need to be verified, and then we'll check each individual part of your motor synchronization. If you test high enough, we'll see about a hunter posting. I'll also be testing your knowledge on reploid sciences, repairs, and structures." Douglas told me, and I shrugged slightly as I continued to eat slowly. He went on to tell me a few more things that I'd be tested on, but I was busy dealing with the thoughts that were running rampant in my mind. _Do I want to be anything other than a hunter_, I asked myself. _Is there really another place I could possibly be here_? My mind wandered, going over possible positions I could be stuck doing... Cook in the cafeteria? Janitor? Maybe some sort of pencil pusher over in accounting or soemthing...

"HEY! Arik, wake up!" was the voice that I heard, though it was a bit different than Douglas' own voice. I felt my head snap back as my eyes opened, and I stared at Douglas in shock. I saw the look on his face easily, and it surprised me- the green reploid could actually be serious! The glare he gave me felt like when I'd told my dad a little white lie and he knew it... _and wasn't happy about it, either_. I smirked slightly and then shook my head slowly to try and clear my senses before I gave an apologetic smile to the reploid. "You didn't hear a word I said, did ya? Ah, forget it. C'mon, just for that I get to start the test early." he said, and I couldn't help but to cringe at the thought of all the tests that were about to be done.

**3 hours Later**

"And the results are done, Arik." Douglas said to me, as I lay on the table. I sat up finally, muttering as I slid from the table an onto the floor. They'd gotten around to issuing me a standard suit of light armor, and the strange boots that I'd been given felt... strange. Almost completely a part of myself, over all. I couldn't really even move my toes- the boots were fitted to completely encompass my feet, to make the soles and boots themselves as if they were my feet. My arms, too were covered in the same way. There wasn't much give between the armor and my syntheskin, either. Douglas read off the report, and I nodded slightly as I smiled a little bit. unarmored reflexes were well within standard for the average reploid. Armored reflexes were just barely on the passable side as well.

I shivered as I recalled the jogging exercise with the armor on. And the sprinting. And the jumping, which was something that surprised the hell out of me. I never thought I could jump so high! I'd never seen hunters in action before, and their reflexes and physical abilities. When I jumped higher than I am tall, it shocked the hell outta me... and my landing was a sight that I hope Douglas never has printed out. I couldn't help the flush as the scene recalled itself in my mind, and I couldn't help but to smile as I shook my head, remembering the impact on the floor. With a sigh, I looked up to the ceiling as Douglas finished. "I've gone ahead and scheduled a session in the weapons training facility. You'll be able to go there and test out the different weapons available. Now, even though your power generator's been upgraded, we're still unsure about giving you a full grade buster. You'll have to deal with a basic buster as a secondary weapon, or go with an ammunition based weapon instead."

I nodded slightly as I turned to face Douglas, and I smiled a little bit. "Not even gonna test me for my knowledge in reploid repair?" I asked sarcastically, my smile turning into a grin. He just looked at me as if he was looking at a headless atomic chicken or something, and we couldn't help but to start laughing. After a few seconds, of course, the laughter died as I shook my head slowly- all before the door that was behind me slid open. I turned to look, and immediately I stood at attention. I could hear the sound of Douglas moving behind me, and we both saluted the reploid who entered. Of all things beside armor, there was one thing that stood out about this reploid before us...

"So, he finally woke up, eh? Hope I didn't damage anything permanently, kid." came the cocky voice of the reploid. I shook my head again quickly, before smiling ever so slightly. It took a moment for the reploid who had entered to return the salute, and both Douglas and myself were soon at ease. The reploid laughed, and then just gave a grin. "Damn, I hate formalities. Obviously you know who I am, but if you've been without any sight or ears in the past decade, I'm Zero." the long-blonde haired reploid said, and I nodded slightly at the easy way he spoke. "I've been stuck playing babysitter today for ya, when you get to the weapons training place. No one knows the way better than me... not even X." he said, and then the red reploid stretched slowly.

My smile began to fade as I realized what this was likely to mean. _Dr. Cain had warned me about something like this just yesterday_! I could only wonder as to how Douglas was responding to that information, but the wide smile on Zero's face told me that he was enjoying my expression. "Ah... well now, what's the matter? Are you only a bit surprised, or has old Cain told you to watch out for me?" he asked, and I could only nod to the second. "Old coot... I told him to stop teasing the recruits. I ain't gonna bite... maybe leave a few dents, but since you're a cyborg, I'll take it easier on ya. I'll just be giving you tests, that's all. Accuracy, strength, and speed. I don't expect something like what I can do, or what the old 1st could do, but don't you worry a bit. I'll make sure that you're sore but intact come dinnertime." he said, and I swear, if I was still human, I'd think that my face went ghost-white. Maybe it did, because Zero reached for me and grabbed my right shoulder, drawing me after him. "Hey, Douglas! See ya later. I'll send this guy back to ya if he gets badly dented, 'kay?"

I glanced back at Douglas as I heard his sharp affirmative, and I was purely dismayed at the mirth in the hunter's eyes. I could tell that as soon as I was out the door with Zero, he'd be laughing his reploid ass off. When I felt Zero's hand lift from my shoulder, I looked back to him as I walked off to the side and slightly behind the taller reploid. "I hear that you managed to beat down a Maverick while in the hospital. That's pretty impressive for a cyborg." he remarked, and I blinked in surprise at the compliment that I'd been given. He was leading me out of the building, towards a land chaser that had been parked just outside the doors. For some reason, my steps slowed a bit as I drew nearer to the land chaser, and Zero pulled ahead of me.

"Ah... well, thank you, sir." I replied, and Zero stopped to turn around and face me. One finger was pointed at me and then he held it up before shaking back and forth.

"My name is Zero. If I require someone to call me by title or some other name, I'll let you know beforehand, okay?" he said, admonishing me. I could only grin and nod in agreement. He nodded at that, and then motioned for me to get on the Land Chaser. "I'll be doin' the drivin... according to X, I'm a natural." Zero mentioned, and I wondered just how much of that was true. _If I remember correctly, Zero was a fairly reckless person according to the reports on him that had been on the news before_, I thought to myself, even as I got onto the passenger sidecar of the Land Chaser. _Military grade, top speed of somewhere around 200mph_, my sensors and vehicle knowledge base told me, and almost out of instinct I reached for a seat belt. Then I checked my other side. I looked up to Zero as he seated himself in the driver's seat, and he glanced down to give me a grin.

"Hang on... we don't usually have sidecars on these things, so this could get kinda rocky." he told me, and I looked from him to the area ahead. The base was rather busy, supposedly, but there weren't many people or reploids outside the buildings right now. Then I heard the engine rev up. It reminded me of the sound of an old chainsaw that I'd heard a while back. Then I shuddered as I heard the high pitched whine from the hover thrusters, and then the chaser lifted from the ground. The whine... it brought back those memories. The warnings in my head didn't do a thing as I was swept away, the high pitched whine filling my sensors, my mind, as the scenes were brought back. Vivid as if they had just now occurred. Nothing else could take my eyes, unseeing save for the images in my head, from where I stared, directly forward.

**The Crash**

_Weightlessness. An odd sensation unless one were born into it, to say the least. And to me, when I was wrenched away from Ayumi's embrace, it came, and then I saw the look of fear reflected from my face upon Ayumi's. It was one of grief and pain as she fell faster than I did, towards the back of the car of the train. My sight became blocked as my eyes must have closed, and I felt weight upon me once more. It was warm, this weight- another human being. I could not tell who, nor of what gender this person who struck me was, but the impact drove me forward back to Ayumi, who had her arms spread wide. This time, she caught and held onto me, the sight of her the last I saw when I opened my eyes. Then, there was a jarring impact upon my back. And then from before me, behind Ayumi, as we slammed into the wall of the car. Gravity soon rushed back into being as the car slammed into the ground, the crushing and screams of pain, fear, and death filling the air._

_The whine had been there, too. The whine of the car as it traveled along the rail, a magnetic system that propelled the train within Doppler Town. It had been there, exacted almost the same chainsaw sound when the car toppled off of the track rail. I remember it just as clearly as the screams that erupted from my own mouth as I felt jagged pieces of metal, of some sort, strike right through me. The pain had been staggering- several of the bench-seats in the train had come loose, unbolted and flew down to meet the few survivors that had remained after the landing of the car from on the track and through several buildings, into the ground. The pain came swift, and yet still was I awake for it. I could smell the blood, taste my own blood. And I felt heat with the stench of human blood as it struck my face. And my clothes. It was all around me. Yet, still I felt Ayumi's embrace, just barely, before I felt her left arm slip away. The shock overtook me shortly afterwards, bloodloss also taking it's toll upon my ravaged body. As my mind left, so did the sound, thankfully..._

**Weapons Training**

"Geez, Zero, what did you do to the guy?" came a voice I'd heard before, as I finally took a moment to gasp for air. My eyes focused again as the memories suppressed themselves, and I could feel someone's hand on my shoulder as I shuddered into a near-restart. _What had happened_? I held a hand up to my forehead, expecting more heat to come from that location, as if I was still a full human and had a fever or something. But my sensors and tactile sensory net picked up no strange temperatures.

"All I did was drive over here! Gimme a break X, my driving isn't that bad. Besides, he went into that almost as soon as I started up the 'Chaser. You... don't think he had some sorta overload, do ya?" I heard Zero ask, and I shook my head. The movement obviously caught their attention, and if it didn't, my moving to stand certainly did as I stood up and looked to the two most famous reploids in existence. Other than the infamous one, that is. I blinked in surprise, and began a low-level diagnostic similar to the one I had run earlier.

"Hey... Arik, right? You okay?" X asked, a bit concerned obviously from the sound in his voice. I nodded slowly, swallowing a little before I could find the ability to talk available to me again. My sensors picked up a fair amount of reploids around us, slow in pace as they walked past- obviously, seeing someone in the state I had been wasn't all that common, even around here. The diagnostic was finished after a few more seconds, reporting no unusual activity or problems with my internal systems.

"Yeah, I guess I'm okay. Sorry to have worried you two." I replied, and then I heard a short laugh from beside X as someone came up to him. It was Dr. Cain, and I blinked in surprise at the sight of the old man. It took a moment for my sensors to fully come back online, and then they settled as I kept up the residual scanning anyway.

"Three, you mean, right? Zero here was worried that he'd accidentally caused you to short circuit or something." Cain said, and X chuckled a bit as Zero just put a hand to his forehead and shook slowly. "Oh, I told you that I'd check up on ya, didn't I? Well, X and I are taking over for Zero for the day, since Zero's got some business with the Repliforce."

I saw Zero whisper to X, and X just nudged him with his elbow before motioning for the red reploid to leave. Zero looked at me and gave me a quick grin before saying goodbye, and then he was off in a stream of red light. "Um... okay..." I said slowly in reply, to which X just sighed and smiled.

"No worries. Zero would've given you quite the workout, and I guess that this just isn't the time to do something like that. Besides, he likes to nitpick everything when it comes to battle statistics. I should know..." X said, and trailed off as he seemed to remember something. Cain looked at X and placed a hand on his arm, snapping the blue reploid back to reality.

"Anyway, let's be going." Dr. Cain said, and motioned for me to head into the building. "I've been informed of your testing from earlier, Arik. I must say, I am quite surprised by these statistics. Most of the few cyborgs that ever joined never reach these synchronization levels, even with armor off. With your new specifications, you should be able to use any non-energy based weaponry easily, and I think we might be able to give you a low-grade buster to use as well."

"A buster? Won't that sap too much energy from my systems though, doc?" I asked, walking alongside the old man as X followed after us. I had followed the system specifications on a basic, modern buster before, back when I would help my parents at the workshop, but even with the new systems I had, including the more powerful power generator specs... Well, that wouldn't work out too well. The drain would be so bad that theoretically, it could destroy my life support systems. We went single file as a large bruiser of a reploid wandered past us-

"Well... we wouldn't be using anything as strong as the Mark 17 buster, actually. Maybe something about... oh, say, only half as powerful as that. And it would have to be it's own cannon of sorts. Unless you actually wore a power pack on the back of your armor, I don't think you could survive using even a Mark 17 buster like X here has." Cain replied, and I nodded slightly. With the information I knew about the buster weapons, they went through maybe 6 total upgrades during the time of the Robot Rebellions thanks to the legendary Dr. Light and Mega Man. Dr. Light must've skipped around a dozen generations of buster designs before settling on the Mark 17, I considered, even as I ran the system specs for the device that had been suggested. "Keep in mind that it would be extremely weak compared to today's standards, but you would be able to defeat the mechaniloids that Mavericks often use to throw in our way. With some minor difficulty, I would think."

"Hopefully, we can keep you out of any dangerous situations, like defeating a Maverick General. They're no easy task with a Mark 17, let alone when my buster is upgraded." X added in, and I shuddered ever so slightly from the thought of that.

"Yeah... Bad enough that I already met one once, I'd rather not meet another one sometime." I commented, and both Cain and X stopped, looking at me curiously. "Gravity Beetle, remember? In Doppler Town, just before the attack began, he toppled the rail system along with the city itself. I was one of the lucky ones, if you could call it that, that was stuck on the train heading into town when Gravity Beetle flashed by."

X nodded at my words and smiled sadly. "The important thing is that you survived, Arik. Of course, fighting one is a different matter. Your body is of a light build, a lot like mine but lighter still thanks to Dr. Cain and Douglas' work on you. We'll have to see about outfitting you with something to help increase your speed sometime. Your agility is probably greater than mine, thanks to your lighter body weight." I looked to him at that last comment- it seemed he was emphasizing speed and evasive manuevers over any type of attack. _Have to admit, I completely agree with X there_, I told myself.

I shrugged at those words, and a door slid open as we entered a hallway that led to a large hall. A very large hall, in fact, that was empty save for a pair of reploids who were working on their distance shots. Both reploids turned as we entered, and immediately saluted Dr. Cain and X. X saluted back smartly, and I smiled as I recognized the squat yellow reploid who was handling a buster rifle. "Heya, Double!" I said to him, even as the other reploid, a humanoid reploid in stylized hawk-like armor, nodded to X before returning to her practice.

Double grinned and waved with the buster rifle still in hand to me, even as he flicked the switch on the rifle to set the safety on it. "Oh, hey... Arik? Wow, they sure got you some nice armor." he said, and I shrugged a little. It was standard gray armor, given to all recruits who didn't already have their own, of course. Double looked to X as the blue reploid went over to see how the hawk-armored reploid was doing, and I could almost swear that I saw him almost scanning the originator of the reploid race. Must not be doing so, I thought, even as I looked away and headed to where Dr. Cain had walked towards. X didn't show any signs of having been scanned, and his systems should be able to pick up any sort of scanning beam directed towards him after all.

"Sorry Double, I'm a little busy testing things out. Maybe we can talk more later, 'kay?" I let the squat yellow reploid know, and he nodded in acknowledgment before turning to face the end of the range. Unfortunately for him, he wound up dropping the buster rifle onto his foot, a loud clanging sound emanating from the impact that caused me to wince somewhat. I looked over to Dr. Cain, and saw him shaking his head slowly at the sound. He looked to me and smiled grimly, as if to tell me with a glance that that was one reploid who'd never be sent to the front or rear lines. He motioned me closer to the table, even smiled a little bit as he pointed to the largest of the weapons that were laid upon the table that was now in between us.

"Alright, Arik. First, I think we'll try an autocannon." Dr. Cain instructed, and I nodded as I went over to pick up the large weapon from the table that had been prepared with a fair number of choices. The autocannon was of a cylindrical shape, and seemed to be something that could be fitted over my forearm. It was pretty heavy, too- about 100lbs altogether, with ammunition installed already in it. "This thing has a dozen shots to begin with. It regenerates the ammo by using a feed to your power generator at a rate of one shell every five seconds or so. It is a very long range weapon, and has an automatic lock-on that you can use by linking to the targetting feed. It shoots slowly, but the shell that is fired travels quickly towards the intended target." he said, and I grasped the handle of the weapon that protruded past my shoulder and hand. The part above my shoulder tapered into a energy connection port, and the part that extended past my hand was a blunt end, making the weapon look a lot like a cigar over all.

"You can also connect the weapon to an alternative power generator or microfusion generator as well, and that will increase the recharge rate up to generating one shell every second or so." Dr. Cain said, and I made the connection to the weapon through my hand, and then spread my awareness to my arm as I practically seemed to graft the weapon into my system until it was a part of my sensory network. I turned as X came back, standing beside Dr. Cain as I looked towards the target at the end of the range. The weapon took a little too long to draw into a firing position, thanks to its weight. _Way too heavy to move fast_, I thought. It took a second to find the bull's eye, and half that to pull the trigger after I aimed the cannon, adjusting the cannon to fire directly towards it. The recoil that came was quite the shock, even though I had braced myself for it. It propelled me back about 6 inches before I stopped, the smoke flying behind me soon dissipating thanks to the large fans that were overhead.

The target exploded perfectly, the hologram shot through nearly the very center. X recited the calculations. "The recoil is far too much for a cyborg frame to handle easily. The aiming was good, and you were off only by a matter of an inch. Of course, we're dealing with a cannon here, so that doesn't mean much for precision strikes. Aim, pull trigger, watch something, somewhere, go boom." he said, and I had to agree as I disconnected the autocannon from my arm.

"Yeah, that's a good point. I never was much for mass destruction or anything. Besides, it's too slow to swing around. If I got swarmed by mechaniloids, it'd be all over." I replied, and both reploid and scientist nodded in agreement. I set the cannon down on the table after a moment more of detaching the sensory network from it, and I looked over the other weapons. A mag-pistol, a small railgun rifle, and a... "Hey. What is this thing?" I asked, picking up a small device that seemed like it would have to be set on one arm, just to the sides of the wrist.

"That's the prototype Mark 12 alpha buster." X replied, grinning as he told me how to install it. It snapped into place, and fit securely as I willed the port for the energy calibration and sensory system to integrate the device. "Even for your specs, you should be able to use it to fire buster shots that aren't quite as powerful as a standard buster's shots. At the least, you'd probably be able to meet my second level charge with the maximum charged shot from that one. It's only a prototype now, but eventually, if it works well for you, we can go ahead and convert it to be integrated with your armor's systems."

I nodded, and although I was a bit uneasy, I drew the buster up and pointed at the holographic target at the end of the range. It was a bit further than I could see normally- the autocannon had had a lock-on ability, and this buster didn't. And I didn't have any way of firing this far away and hoping to hit... "Here's an idea. Have the hologram move towards us slowly from the rear of the range. That way, we can guage what my effective distance would be with this buster, okay?" I offered, and Cain quickly agreed, punching in the information into the console that was in the wall nearest to him, rather than near me. I began to charge the weapon, and it took only a second for it to reach a second level charge. And only a short moment more before it reached the third, and I could then feel the power drain from me as it fed into the weapon. My hand was getting pretty warm as the twin cannon nozzles glowed through the indicator ports on their ends, and then I let loose the twinned beams of power.

Each one lanced off to the side, barely nicking the hologram. I winced at the poor accuracy, but then I leveled off my aim a bit better as I spread my legs somewhat, bracing myself. No recoil from the charged shot last time, and I began the charge once more. It was as simple as thinking the command just enough to accumulate the energy. My energy stores seemed to be fine still- filling up the weapon's energy batteries was a simple and painless task, fortunately. With a small smile on my face, I pictured the target as the one Maverick that had killed my parents and so many others in Doppler Town. Gravity Beetle. I grit my teeth and let loose with the charged shot, and soon followed up with a trio of single shots that slammed into the hole in the hologram that had appeared thanks to the twin beam charged shot.

"How are your power reserves?" Dr. Cain asked quickly after that little display, and I glanced to him in surprise. I wasn't even gasping for air or anything, which was definitely a good sign. I relayed to him the power generator status, and he sighed somewhat and smiled. "Good. So this design just might work well for you."

"Well, I think your effective range would be around average for any reploid with a buster cannon, Arik." X told me. "The destructive power of that weapon is quite small. The rapid fire ability of it, being able to charge a shot up and then immediately follow with three shots, is very good." He said, and I smiled a little bit. "The destructive power of your third level shot is equal to my second level shot. It seems your power generator might actually be able to handle a basic Mark 17 Buster... but I wouldn't consider it. With your lighter frame and lesser power generating capabilities, I'm afraid, I think it just wouldn't be a good idea."

"Are you sure that you should be using me as a guinea pig for the use of a new weapon? I'm not exactly the best candidate for basing a prototype weapon's abilities off of, ya know. Maybe you should try another hunter instead? Like Double?" I suggested, even as I slid the prototype weapon off of my arm. _It was a great weapon, handled well and it was probably a very good choice compared to the other weapons here_, I told myself. _An ammunition based weapon would eventually give out. If I was on a long mission or had to deal with large numbers of mechaniloids, or even Mavericks_... I knew that I'd lose out on something like that. X shrugged and told me that basing a weapon off of someone who had the bare minimum requirements to use it meant that others who had better specifications would be able to use just as well, at the least.

"I guess I might take it sometime, when it's no longer a prototype, but in the meantime, I don't think it'll help me all that much. Do you guys?" I asked, and both shook their heads at almost the exact same time. "Didn't think so. Let's see here- On the off-chance that I'd ever meet a Maverick General, I'm pretty much screwed, right? I think that there should be a weapon that can provide me some better damage capabilities. At the very least, I'd need some sort of armor piercing rounds, I guess." I commented, and X shrugged slightly. Dr. Cain just shook his head slowly. "Hm... X, you don't really want to be here right now, do you?" I asked, glancing back to the blue reploid that had been the first. He just shrugged in response, even as Dr. Cain spoke up.

"Any ammunition-based weapon will have a recoil to factor in. We could probably get you some sort of smaller autocannon, with comparable loading and firing rates, but I do not believe we could increase the amount of ammunition that it would already have unless we used much smaller shells." he said, and Arik nodded a little, smiling as he set the Mark 12 Buster onto the table. Then, stepping over to the autocannon, Arik opened up the ammunition bay and pulled out a single shell. I scanned it, modified the shell design in my head, and then sent it as an attachment to X. Modifying the payload and the design so that it was only one-third of it's original design. It'd have to rely mostly on speed to provide the impact- a small explosive installed at the end of the shell would deliver a much smaller version of the explosion that the original would've had.

"Hey, X. Think that this could be possible?" I asked, and watched as he seemed to look it over in his head. Slowly, the blue reploid nodded, and he shrugged slightly. _Looks like I was right_, I considered. I'd always heard that Commander X never cared for violence, and this seemed to be true even now. _And yet, he continued to fight the mavericks with every major uprising. Thank Dr. Light for more than creating the first mostly human reploid_, I thought, as I waited for the commander's verdict.

"I'm not much for weapons, but it looks like this could work. I'll forward this to the weapon technicians, maybe they can use it. If so, I think we could effectively negate the recoil of the auto cannon thanks to the new size. And increase it's payload and rate of fire. Range would probably lessen, but I think that it could be done. Check in with Douglas later, Arik. I think he'll have something for you to see at that time." he said, and I nodded slowly at those words. Seemed like the poor green reploid was getting a lot of work... "Anyway, it's about dinner time. Would you like to head over to the cafeteria on your own, or would you prefer someone to guide you there?" he asked, and I shrugged in response before speaking.

"I bet you two are a bit busy around here these days. I'll find my own way to the cafeteria, you two can get back to what you were doing before all this started." I replied. X nodded and glanced to Dr. Cain before heading towards the door. Cain himself started to walk after him, but stopped as he neared me.

Dr. Cain looked over his shoulder and gave me a small smile. "Arik, about earlier... if you ever want to talk, let me know. If I'm not too busy, I'll be happy to listen for you." He said kindly, and I smiled in return to the doctor as I headed towards the door with him. It was a strange silence- not exactly uncomfortable, but an easy silence, one where no one had to speak unless they wanted to. X was waiting at the door that led outside, and I looked to Dr. Cain with a small smile on my face.

Dr. Cain looked to me after a moment, and I couldn't help the words that came from my mouth. "Thank you."

Dr. Cain nodded, and smiled widely in return. He just nodded slowly and then continued on. I looked ahead again, and we parted ways at the door. I waved to the two, and they waved in return as I headed in the direction that the map of the base told me to go in in order to get to the cafeteria. The other two got onto a transport vehicle and headed off somewhere, leaving me, a rookie hunter, to try and find my way around. Several reploids were walking in my direction, and I didn't pay too much attention to them as I headed towards them, checking my internal systems.

**A little later**

It was another fifteen minutes before I realized that I was being followed. It wasn't that there was probably just someone else wandering towards the cafeteria, just as I was, but instead, this figure on my scanner kept following directly behind me. I shook my head as I recalled what Cain had told me yesterday about the Global Council, that they'd probably try to contact me. This could be some sort of attempt by them to contact me, I considered, and I started walking a bit faster than I had been. The individual obviously sped up to keep up, and I groaned as I realized that whoever it was behind me was actually going faster than I was. With a small grin, I turned off my sensors and hid behind the corner of a building, turning off my systems to a diagnostic-only level as I watched the main walkway from where I was. Soon, the sound of heavier breathing could be easily detected, and after another moment a reploid came into view. It was that hawk-armored reploid... the one that seemed rather familiar to me, at least.

With a grin, I reactivated the rest of my systems, and the armored reploid stopped and I could see the grimace on the face of the reploid as it turned to face me. As she turned to face me, I noted, sensing the actual gender of the reploid in question with my sensors. I didn't have a list of every hunter here yet, so I knew it'd be pointless to bother with trying to research this one. I waited for a moment as we looked at one another, and then I shrugged as I crossed my arms, walking out from where I'd hidden to face her head on. "Is there some reason that you were following me?" I asked, and the blush on the reploid's face surprised me as I watched her quietly. "Well?"

"Yeah." she replied, and then said nothing else. Which was kind of annoying, considering the fact that I'd hoped for an actual answer, not some vague reply. Fortunately, she decided to give more information after she had debated it with her own systems in a moment. "We met once before, in the hospital. Remember when you had taken out that Maverick?" she asked me, and I nodded in acknowledgment, remembering the scene myself. _It'd been just after I'd attacked Ayumi, and after Lifesaver had knocked her out with that tazer weapon,_ I remembered. _She was one of the three reploids that had arrived to deal with Ayumi when she was Maverick,_ I realized. _She had threatened me with her weapon, but I backed off as a result. I must not have been much of a threat then, obviously._

"I think I remember you... I never did get your name, though." I replied, and she grinned a little bit. _A bit cocky, this one_, I decided as I watched her for a moment as she considered giving me her name or not.

"Maybe not, but I did get yours, Arik. For a rookie, you've already gotten a little famous around here. Taking out a Maverick before becoming a hunter, and remaining friends with that Maverick after she'd been rebuilt." she said, and the look of surprise on my face must have been obvious. She grinned a bit wider now before she shook her head slowly. "Word travels around here very quickly. We all know about you and Ayumi already, unless you were to ask, oh, one of the technicians. They have their heads so far into books and data that I doubt that they ever take any time to talk to anyone unless it's another technician or scientist." she explained, and I nodded slowly in response to that. "My name's Gwen. I'm part of the 2nd unit under Liu. Has anyone made any mention as to what squad you might be joining yet?" she asked me, and I shook my head.

I'd heard of Liu a while ago- one of the few reploids from the Hunters that had survived the original uprising led by Sigma and the 1st unit. He'd been awarded several medals for his quick thinking and efforts to evacuate the nearby city after the Death Rogumer, a powerful first-generation Flying Carrier, attacked it. After that, all the awards and citations went to X and Zero... for the most part, simply because there were very few other reploids who had managed to survive the uprisings. But Liu had, obviously, survived this most current one.

"Not yet. I just got in yesterday. It's been ascertained that I'll be joining a hunter unit of some sort, but I don't know which one yet. I'm personally betting on the 9th Unit." I replied, and Gwen just grinned. The 9th Unit was known for using mostly humans and cyborgs in its ranks, and were often stationed in the area where they were expected to be called into action. Humans and most cyborgs couldn't handle the mental stress that arose from teleportation- the streaming molecules, when dealing with organic material, often proved to be too much trauma for most portions of a human's brain... if they survived at all. _The best known casualty of teleportation stress was the late, and infamous, Dr. Wily_, I remembered. _If it hadn't been for Wily, there'd be so much else left to work with, and there would, quite possibly, peace in the world_. _It was Wily and Light who had created the first thinking robot. Wily had been caught in a teleportation accident with the first thinking robot, called Blues, and his mind had been permanently scrambled as a result... according to Dr. Light's autobiography, at least_.

"Well, the 9th is a good unit. They do have the highest survival rate in the organization, you know." she replied, and I gritted my teeth as I knew what she meant. _Out of the way, useless unless the Maverick disturbance was near them. Or if they were required to operate in guerilla tactics. Of course they survived. It was because they were never called into duty unless things were that dire or if the other units were involved in a huge scale attack. Their survival rate was around 75- of course, some had died in battle with Mavericks, but the next highest unit was a Reploid unit that was at 68. The 17th unit. X's unit._

I nodded in agreement to her words, all the while hoping that I'd not have to join the 9th. "I guess you're right, but the 9th isn't exactly the most noteworthy Unit here. I mean, the second has been around since the beginning, the 0th is led by Zero, and the 17th is led by X. Hell, even the 15th is held in higher regard, and as far as I can see, they're like the MP for the hunters!" I replied, and Gwen laughed as we started walking down the sidewalk. There was something bothering more than the Unit situation though. Speaking of the different Hunter Units got me to thinking about where all the hunters actually were- but then, there had just been a Maverick Uprising. _Of course there weren't many reploids left here, or cyborgs. They'd all been destroyed, damaged, or otherwise injured during the attack on Sigma's fortress_, I realized, and knew that asking about it would simply leave me with an answer along those lines anyway.

"That's true. Our MP is the 15th, and I've had my share of run-ins with them after the attack on Sigma's citadel." she replied sadly, and I looked down the street as we walked quietly for a few minutes. _It's one of those taboo things, I suppose_. So soon after dealing with one uprising, one had to deal with the repercussions of it. The hunters weren't the only ones dealing with them, and they knew it- Doppler Town had a sizable population of humans, too, back before the Beetle's attack. The news had said that the final number of deaths resulting from that one Reploid was far greater than the number of humans killed by Sigma during his two-part uprising.

"I... I'm sorry, Gwen." I said quietly, and I glanced up to her- of course, she was taller, I realized finally. Most of the reploids here were taller than the humans that had created them, if only by a few inches to a foot. Some were huge, though, like the one that X, Cain, and myself had passed on the way towards the firing range. There didn't seem to be too many of those reploids around, though.

"It's alright. I brought 'em on myself 'cause I was drunk as all hell. I lost a lot of friends during the invasion of Sigma's citadel. If you hadn't noticed, this place is a lot less lively now because of it. Only the 0th and the 17th managed to get away with only a few casualties. All the others, including the 9th believe it or not, took heavy casualties." Gwen informed me with a bitter tone in her voice. "I saw many of 'em die, their reactors going critical. Some of 'em went kamikaze against the mechaniloids, to get the rest of us further towards the citadel. I saw a bunch more die in the workshops here. Some never even materialized thanks to the teleportation jamming frequencies that Sigma had in place."

I was surprised at the fact that she had gotten drunk- I had no idea that reploids could get drunk. Then again, it made sense- a drunk reploid, if it attacked a human, might be considered Maverick. If that was the case, then it made sense that Hunters who intended on getting drunk would be 'chaperoned' by the 15th. "I'm sure you don't have so much to worry about, though. You're a cyborg. The higher ups'll probably send you to a defensive unit like the 9th or 15th. If you're lucky, you'll never have to deal with attacking a citadel. Maybe a few Mavericks though." she said. It made sense, but I didn't like the idea of hiding behind others. I'd done it once before, without realizing it, and I shuddered as I remembered the crash again, just a single scene where Ayumi had protected me.

That caused me to blink. _Ayumi_? _I hadn't seen her all day_! And there hadn't been any messages sent, either. Quickly, I composed a message and sent it out to Ayumi's address, and then I blinked as I realized she was now holding the door to the cafeteria open. "Well, come on. I'm hungry too, ya know." she said, and I grinned as I nodded and walked into the building. It was a fairly large place overall, with a small arcade towards the back. The selection was fairly minimal, but did have all sorts of food that I liked, at least. "Hm... the special is pizza today, eh? Guess I better get a slice of that." she commented, and I had to agree as we grabbed the trays. Burgers seemed to be common, as did salads and sandwiches... Rice was pretty common here as well, as well as some fried noodles. I just ordered two slices of pizza and paid for it with my ever-decreasing amount of zenny that I'd left myself before coming to Japan.

"At least it's not expensive." I muttered to myself, speaking under my breath as I usually did when dealing with these kinds of thoughts. I turned with the tray with the two slices of pizza, and came face to face with the brunette reploid that I hadn't seen all day. She wasn't wearing her usual colorful clothes- instead, she was wearing a light green suit of armor that fit snugly from her neck all the way down to her boots. I smiled a little, blushing from the shock of seeing her without any warning at all of her arrival. "Ayumi!"

I blinked in surprise after saying her name aloud by accident, and she just smiled softly. "Well hey there, Arik. All done now?" she asked, and I nodded in agreement. She just took my left arm gently and pulled me off towards a table that was already somewhat filled- three total open seats, though one of them had a tray in front of it on the table. _Obviously, that's where she's sitting_, I thought, and I looked to the others that filled the seats. One was Alia, and another was a brunette with a beret on. Cute, I thought, and then I saw Zero sitting beside her with a smile on his face that seemed as genuine as any human emotion that I'd ever seen a reploid possess.

"Well, well! The newest cyborg is back from the depths of testing hell!" Zero commented, and the brunette beside him who was smiling just giggled at that remark. Another reploid came over, sitting on the other side of the brunette before setting down his own tray. I could see the insignia on his chest rather clearly- Repliforce. It was on the brunette's beret as well, no less. I couldn't help but to chuckle at the humor, and then shook my head as Ayumi sat down and pulled me to sit down beside her. Between her and Alia, actually.

"Ah, it wasn't that bad. Despite the fact that I was used as a guinea pig for a new buster that could possibly have drained out my power generator, that is." I replied, and I couldn't help the grin that escaped as I heard Zero's laugh, and Ayumi's gasp. The other reploid wore a 'hat' that reminded me of the brunette's beret- possibly a counterpart? That reploid just chuckled a little and shook his head.

"Well, well, a new buster?" he said with a heavy english accent. "Got any real information about it other than that, my friend?" he asked, and I shook my head in reply to the query. The brunette between him and Zero lightly punched the reploid's arm, and he gave a her a look of mock indignation as he rubbed his arm, as if to complain about the hit that he had just taken. Ayumi and Alia looked at me, and Ayumi asked if I was alright, to which I assured her I was.

"Not really new... a less powerful version of the Mark 17 that Dr. Cain says was developed for use by cyborgs. It's not even as powerful as Commander X's, altogether." I commented, and shrugged as the other reploid just shook his head, as if disappointed with that news. "At least it's something that could be used by a cyborg. Otherwise, we've got some serious limitations compared to standard Reploids like you guys. Hell, I don't even know if I'd survive a teleport beam yet." I told them, to which Zero finally calmed down and introduced his friends finally, to get off the subject of that sorta thing.

"Well, Arik, let me introduce two of my friends. The pretty reploid beside me is Iris, and she is the liason officer between Repliforce and the Hunters. And the big guy sitting beside her is her brother, the Colonel of the Repliforce. He doesn't even share his real name with anyone outside of Iris, so just call him Colonel. And don't bother saluting or anything, we're all here on break after all." Zero informed me, and I nodded to both siblings in turn. They smiled and returned my greeting in the same way, which was quite fine with me. Then, they started conversing with one another as I started to eat one of the slices of my pizza.

"Hey, Arik." Alia said, and I turned to face her as I chewed the bite of pizza that I had in my mouth. "Sorry... Ah, how did the upgrades go last night? I heard that they went well, though rumor has it that a certain someone..." and she trailed off for a moment, taking a second to look at Zero before looking back to me again. "That someone had some fun at your expense when you got there after our meeting with Commander X and Dr. Cain yesterday." I had to think about it for a minute and then grinned, shrugging a little as I told them the circumstances as I knew them. Then the originator of the problem spoke up, and by the time it was all told we were all enjoying a laugh. Even the Colonel, who seemed to be even more proper as any british person I'd ever, was enjoying the story.

"I'll get you back some day, Zero. Count on it." I told him, and Zero just grinned triumphantly.

"Bring it on. X hasn't managed to do it yet, so I doubt you'll be able to." he dared, and I grinned right back, trying to scheme something up. _Unfortunately... I suck at practical jokes!_

**Author's Notes**

Wow, I finally got around to trying to get past my writer's block. Seems like I managed it, but the series is still going at a snail's pace. I'll try to fix that with the next chapter, which I hope doesn't take nearly as long to get done. By the time I get this chapter on the internet, I should have a stable internet connection- you can probably get ahold of me on a messenger by then. Maybe.

**Review Responses**

**Solarious**: Yikes... That's probably one of the most impressive compliments to receive- to be compared to Anne McCaffery is high praise! Thanks. Yeah, the GC will probably be around for the next chapter, since they didn't show up in this one.

**Iniora**: Eh, no worries there. Zero's a bit preoccupied right now.

**Choas Emerald Guardian**: Yeah, organics have quite the limitations. All the RAM he has goes towards getting the electrical impulses of his brain and translating them into instructions that the rest of the reploid body can follow.

**Cor Strike FX**: I'll be looking forward to reading your fic. Hopefully, it won't take as long as this chapter did to write. lol

**Zaisha**: Hm... Possibility of becoming a battlefield medic is pretty unlikely, but it is possible. I'll have to consider it.

**Hotshot**: Glad that you're enjoying the fic.

**GForce64**: Yeah, I've heard the X7 sucked, despite the fact that Axl came from that game. I've found very few fics based off of X3, so I thought it would be a good way to begin.

**Jazzerman**: I'll be picking up the speed of the fic with the next chapters, I think.

**PRIVATE and J**: I'm glad that you're enjoying the fic. Thanks for picking up on the fact that I'm switching viewpoints every so often- when Arik's involved, I'll try to keep it in first person. When he isn't, I'll probably stick with third person. I usually do this only when I'm dealing with characters other than Arik, after all.


	9. Interlude!

Author's Note: Side-tracked!

Sorry all, I've been busy IRL, learning and working. As such, it's left me with little time to continue my writing. However, I do have some good news on this!

I've got about 1/3 of the next chapter written. There's going to be more as well, but you see, I've gotten the hankering to do a bit of writing in a slightly different genre. Two, actually. Mega Man (think the in-between of the Classic and X series), and Tales of Symphonia. I'll be back on this ASAP, though. Sorry to all who are waiting on the next chapter. In thanks... well, here's the 1/3. lol

**Review Responses**

**Hotshot45**: Short and sweet as always. Thanks for the continued support.

**ngrey651**: I'm glad you like my characterization of the 'Dragoon. I always liked the traitor, and at least now he gets a little more screen time than as a Ryu/Ken clone and an explosion, right?

**Jazzerman**: Hehe, were you the only one to catch that joke? I figured that I needed a little fun, after all, and that one was a little too hard to pass up. Plus, it fit well with the series this is based in.

**Zaisha**: Yes, Zero's testing procedure is cruel even by Reploid standards. Cain might be a recluse, and X might not like to fight, but neither of 'em could stand by and watch a cyborg get ripped to shreds.

**Cor Strike FX**: Whoa there! Easy fella, relax on the NoDoze and caffeine, will ya? I'm glad that you're happy that I'm back, but unfortunately my updates are gonna be few and far between for a while. Just let me know when you've finished your little MMX ficlet, and I'll stop by.

**starfighter48**: Um... thanks to you, too. I'm glad that you're enjoying my first real MMX-type fic.

**Archaon**: Thanks for the summary of the action for the first 8 chapters. And yes, X's buster does begin as a mk.17. However, keep in mind that in every game (not counting Command Mission) since X1 that he uses the standard blue suit normally, he retains the same power of attacks from the buster. Also, not it's not until X5 that he starts out with a full suit of armor (normally) that came from the previous game. So, he would upgrade from mk.17 to, say, mk.20 or 21 in that instance. And yes, I am really, really harsh on my characters. This is to keep people from thinking that this is a self-insertion fic, mostly.

**Aria6**: I'm glad you're enjoying my main characters' misery. lol

And now, to the story. I again apologize for the lateness of this update, but writer's block got to me... along with real life. Mostly real life.

_**A hidden base**_

"I really hate waiting." came the disembodied voice. It was rare that there was a voice in this small bunker. It wasn't so much a base as a foxhole close to the Maverick Hunter HQ. In fact, it was in the basement ruins of the original Maverick Citadel. Where Zero had died, and Mega Man X became a true hunter in his own right. The voice had come almost absent-mindedly from one of the speakers of the computer where the originator of the voice was now. The screen was static, and there really wasn't anything around. Not even a single mechaniloid at all. This small facility had been created by the Maverick Hunters after the first part of the original uprising, but was rarely ever monitored. Mavericks never went back to the same place they had already been, for some reason... except, now, for one.

The room was dark and stuffy- no air travel worth mentioning, and there just wasn't a whole lot to look at. There were chairs and such- a storage room, and a weapons locker in case Maverick Hunters were somehow forced off the main base. It was rather small... and there was only one door leading in or out. That one door was quickly forced open as a tall, somewhat thin reploid walked into the little facility. The disembodied voice looked coldly over to the newcomer with its sensors, and found the maverick signature that it had expected. The figure was in red pain... no hair from behind it. Which was an obvious good thing, since that meant it wasn't the Maverick Hunter known as Zero.

"Reporting as ordered." came the flat voice from the reploid that had entered. It had shoulder guards that stuck upwards, as if a bull was looking to ram something. The eyes were red as well, though it had painted blue around them to make them stand out more. The reploid was obviously male in build, and was a bit heavier than its build suggested it would be. Each step that the reploid took resounded on the cement flooring- cement, not duracrete like was normally used these days. The red reploid came to rest in front of the screen, which was still filled with static. The disembodied voice made no sound as the reploid began its report.

"There is one reploid that was infected but is now infection free. According to the logs at the base, she was nearly overrun by the virus but her conciousness was physically removed from the infected body. She is, as of now, completely virus free." the reploid said, to which the disembodied consciousness would have physically shivered, if it had been capable of it. It knew much about what that was like, after all. "Also, low level virus spreads have infected several of the hunters. 80 of them were found and deleted. However, one Maverick Hunter in particular has shown to continue with the infection. Estimates show that Dragoon, Magma will obtain full Maverick Virus infection within 5 years. The agent, Double, knows nothing yet of his being an agent for the master."

It took a few moments for the consciousness inside the computer to consider this information carefully. "So..." the disembodied voice said aloud finally. "Sigma has finally decided to try another uprising, so shortly after his near brush with true death." it mused. It knew that Sigma didn't have the resources right now to pull out many more stops. It would be probably around 5 years until the next uprising would take place. Sigma enjoyed being ready, but the conciousness in the computer knew better. This time, Sigma had thrown everything into taking over Doppler before the anti-virus program could be perfected. He'd had his hand forced to be played before he was truly ready. With Sigma's resources in Doppler Town gone, the virus master would have to lay low... There weren't many maverick facilities left in the world, after all.

"Very well. Continue monitoring the situation. Expand your search to the Repliforce as well. I have heard rumors of Zero becoming interested in a reploid there, and I would know more of this situation." the voice said, and to that the red reploid bowed and turned to head off out the door. The voice directed its own communications array towards the Maverick Hunter's base, even as it transported itself to a smaller drive, which was shielded against any intrusions. The conciousness went into remission, cutting off everything save its sensors for the wait for the next report that would come at the end of the week.

_**Global Council, secret location**_

It was a slow day for Senator Gerald Bradley, up until the report of another cyborg having joined the maverick hunters came in. The courier delivered the information on paper- it was something that he preferred. Data files could be hacked into, but nothing could scan a paper through other papers when it was filed in a titanium crafted, magnetic field repelling file cabinet. "Well now..." the aged senator said under his breath as he looked over the multiple page report. The instances that brought the young man to the Maverick Hunters, the second Maverick Uprising. The horrendous crash that had nearly killed him almost put a dent in the smile on the older man's face. Almost. This man had seen worse in his day- one time, when he was a child, he had been playing near the train station that was taken over by Charge Man during Wily's fifth Robot Rebellion.

The three laws those days had been nearly destroyed by that madman, if it hadn't been for Dr. Light, he knew. And those three laws were constantly in jeopardy, again and again, thanks to the Mavericks. Humans could fight but could not get past the advantages that the reploids enjoyed. Teleporting long distances in less than a minute. Being able to carry high-grade weaponry on their person. To be able to survive extreme heat and cold temperatures. They had no true need to eat food, nor for oxygen either. They could survive even if the planet's atmosphere was completely burned away somehow. All they needed were sources of power for their generator, after all. With all that going for them, more and more humans had pushed for the creation of reploid armies to replace human ones.

Of course, that was until the Maverick Virus was discovered, during this last Uprising. First by Dr. Doppler, and then researched and confirmed by human and reploid scientists alike all around the world. It seemed that Doppler even created a vaccine, and according to the intel reports, Zero had managed to force feed it to the virus. But there was something that the GC knew that the rest of the world didn't. In fact, the Global Council knew this information, above and beyond that which the Maverick Hunters could possibly know for certain. This information was vital to the Maverick Hunters survival, and rumor had it that X, Zero, and that damned Dr. Cain had to know about it all himself.

_Sigma was alive. Presumed missing in action, but alive. A virus, after all, multiplies and invades. The rest of the world seemed to dismiss the possibility that the Sigma Virus still existed, but the Global Council knew better. The Maverick Virus existed in all reploids that had been exposed to it at one time or another. There was no evidence pointing to the virus having been completely destroyed. Without no evidence that it was purged from every computer in the world, there was no reason to believe that it was gone for good. And because of that, the Bradley and the Council wanted the Hunters under jurisdiction, once and for all. _

_A private army, created by Cain Labs in order to defeat the Maverick threat had been the key to survival in the last two uprisings. But now, with a true lull between the attacks, the Council wanted them. But Cain was in the way. That damned archaeologist! Bradley sighed as he remembered the first orders that were given merely two weeks ago to the man, during the very middle of the operation against Sigma's citadel, that Cain was to hand over the Maverick Hunters and their facilities. Lock, stock, and barrel were to be at the Global Council's beck and call. But Cain had lawyers and the rights given to him during the emergency of the first uprising to back up his claims and ownership of the hunters._

"We must have them... if not the hunters, then the Repliforce." Bradley mused. The boy that had been found having become at least 90 percent reploid was perhaps a future key to the Hunters. However, that would likely have to wait until the end of the next Uprising, or at least a year or two if they were careful enough. Whenever it came to reploids, humans could not endure as long. But Bradley knew that humans would win the numbers game. Their ingenuity, intelligence, and sheer will to endure could overpower any reploid. Despite the three laws basically instilling such comparable capabilities, they were, after all, only machines. Bradley grinned a little, but there was something in the back of his mind that nagged at him- was that really all there was to them? At least, there were two that showed more signs of humanity than a mere robot should possess...

"Just like the Blue Bomber." he mused. Robots were ordered to do what they did. There was no way to blame a robot for something like that. For them, the three laws were the laws of their very lives. Even thinking about disobeying them would likely result in a neural collapse and memory wipe. The core of the machine would shut down, and anything saved within it until then would be gone. But there were legends, half-truth whispers of rumors that he had heard back in the day that the original Mega Man had nearly been pushed to the edge in the drive to keep Wily from taking over the world with his modified robots and their twisted laws. He had heard that on more than one occassion, Mega Man had been capable of ending Wily's life.

And, ironically, the human race was tired of the man. He would have eventually been put to death. Before the seventh rebellion, he had been waiting on Death Row when his robots freed him. But no, his only true time for death would have been at the hands of a robot that, beyond anything ever known by then, was incapable of dealing to the demented doctor the only sentence that would have rid the world of his madness forever. In the end, Mega Man was merely a machine as far as anyone knew. The laws held firm in his mind. The metaphorical trigger had never been pulled, the shot of death never injected. Light died of old age as the years of 20XX continued on, and it was never proven how or if Wily had ever submitted to the sands of time as well.

But leave it to the two doctors who helped to save humanity to leave humanity their final hope in Mega Man X. Wily had contributed perhaps the most, for X knew many of the things that had happened in the early-to-mid 20XX era. The robot rebellions. Their attack patterns. Test results garnered from the Maverick Hunters regarding holographic simulations of the robot rebellions during the rookie X's stages showed that he blasted through almost all of them with little to no damage. Only the few robots, such as Shadow Man, Quick Man, and those from the seventh rebellion had managed to do any true damage to the founder of the reploid race. X was the next generation Mega Man, there was no doubt about it. Leave it to a family of robots to let the world have its peace.

Bradley pushed aside these thoughts, closing his eyes before he reached to the phone and dialed in a number as he picked up the reciever. As it rang, he punched in another code, and then put the reciever back into place before he smiled a bit. The information was sent to the council members whom he found most trustworthy. Within an hour, he would know how best to proceed with their intentions in mind. And the boy, Arik... well, he would quite likely be a pawn in their game. Whether he consented to it or not, however, was of little consequence. He was too young to know better about the Global Council, even if Cain had warned the lad about them. There were ways around the small things, after all. And all the while, he knew that the GC's master goal was continuing and getting closer to completion as the years continued.

**Maverick HQ**

_The main building was 35 stories tall, with 15 of them underground. Each story was almost half a mile long and a half mile in diameter. Ten meters of reinforced durasteel and duracrete provided the framework of the building, making it jokingly referred to as the modern-age castle. The headquarter level was underground, with a shaft in the back of the building providing a turbolift straight upwards for emergency purposes. The underground levels were restricted to all but officers, administrative staff, and those with special clearance. Regular elevators abounded throughout the building, to the point where the map was difficult enough to use without turning to a search feature in the program to decide the fastest course of action. There was a ten story R&D building, almost as large as the main HQ, and a four story repair facility beside it. A 20 story building lay a mile out from the main base, nearest to the public entrance, was the visiting center and public relations office buildings. Beyond the R&D facilities, that were to the north of the main HQ, and to the west was a 15 story building that was the Maverick Hunter dormitories_. An extension was being constructed as well, from what Arik knew from experience.

_A relatively small 5 story building beside the headquarters was the living quarters for the main officers of the maverick hunters, as well as guest facilities for those staying overnight. That was where the commanders of the different squads stayed, though some elected to remain with their squads in the dormitories. The Cain Labs facility had a five-story surface level, a three-story airborne structure that was reminiscent of the still-standing Space Needle in the USA, and eight underground levels. Each facility was at work on some project or another, according to the information gleaned from the program, though there was no true information on what exactly was being studied._

_Arik sighed as he glanced up to the ceiling. The tests had finally ended... save for the last one. That one was slated for today. This one would actually decide my combat status. Further testing on marksmanship, tech savvy, strategic sense, ingenuity, and speed/agility courses had taken up my time for the last week. Not only my time, but the time of the others in my testing class. The others had all been reploids, I remembered. Most were of the third generation types or newer, and of various sizes and builds. Several were in the image of jungle cats, and as expected with their streamlined bodies had performed very well in their speed and strategic tests. Still others were of various capabilities and builds. There was a Kraken-style reploid, who had performed poorly in all tests other than tech savvy so far, but this combat test would have all sorts of different conditions that they would be forced into, so the reploid would definitely have his time to shine._

_There were about half a dozen humanoid reploids that did well in various ways... there was even one that was ape-like that was quite tech savvy and rather ingenious, but pretty clumsy when it came to speed and strategy. Ayumi had actually done perfectly compared to everyone else when it came to being strategic, and had gotten good marks everywhere else._ When I brought up my own scores, I couldn't keep the smile hidden. _According to my test scores, I'm very tech savvy_- _hell, even Cain called up and commented that those were the scores he expected to see from the kid before Dr. Cain had been summoned away by a GC call_. High marks in strategy and tech, average in others, and just barely above average when it came to speed and agility. _My lighter frame made it difficult for me to possibly utilize the famous "triangle jump" maneuver that those with dash thrusters were capable of. It was found that I could, however, jump farther than most reploids his size thanks to his own dash thrusters and light weight, but he just couldn't dig his feet into the walls as other reploids could, and launch himself upwards. The wall was still dented where I had 'landed' as a result of my first jump. And I'd had a migraine for the rest of the day, too._

It was also found that unlike a few other modified cyborgs, he also couldn't dash while in the air. Not vertically or horizontally, not in the slightest. It had been rather disappointing to learn this, but Arik consoled himself that his systems hadn't been fully tested, nor had my full energy reserves and functions been fully taxed. Today, they would be, and I knew that I'd be able to figure out my full limits. _As would the entire class, no less. This would test out everyone's physical and mental capabilities, one-on-one if the little lecture that they had been given yesterday had been any indication_.

The testing was to take place in an hour from now, at the recruit training center. It was a 10 story building, though only half of them were above ground. The ceiling was also used, and the center was also known as the "Wreck Center" for the other reploids that were already past the recruit stage. Each level simulated different terrain features that could be found, or had been found, in various areas around the world. Locations would be holographically projected or actually created to simulate the harshness of the environments in question. It was rumored that the designs were taken directly from Commander X's memory banks regarding the previous uprisings, as well as speculated designs of even earlier opponents against robot masters from the Age of Robots. Wily's Rebellion robots, that is.

A chime came from the door, and Arik sat up from his stasis module. It was actually more like a bed, though rather snug to say the least. The size of a twin bed and yet larger so as to form the recharge capsule, it rested against the wall and was capable of moving upwards if needed for ease of cleaning underneath. "Come in." the cyborg said aloud, and that caused a small red LED to change to green at his voice. The door slid open, and in walked a reploid in green base armor and silver rim. Only the reploid's face remained familiar, since I had only seen this particular reploid in her armor beforehand. She wasn't Ayumi, obviously, and it did take me a moment to remember her from a week or so ago. "Heya Gwen. What's up?" I asked her as she smiled and came into my quarters.

"Not much. Just got told to come down here and tell you what armament you'll be given so you can be ready for your tests today." she told me, and I nodded slightly. I could guess as to what the techs had come up with, but I knew that it was best to let her tell me, rather than make an ass of myself by guessing incorrectly. The female reploid walked over to sit against the reinforced desk, and it amazed me to see just how human like she was when she sighed. _It was like a girl leaning against a wall after they'd been walking a while to relax_, I thought to myself. "You'll be given the Mk.14 buster. The techs actually designed it just for you. They managed to come up with some sorta device to allow you to at least be on par with most reploids... but you only get one level of charge shot with it. Let's just say you won't be giving me a run for my money." she said, and I couldn't help but to laugh at that.

"Great... am I gonna be another guinea pig, Gwen?" I couldn't help but to ask. When I wasn't training or testing with the class, I'd been spending time with Ayumi, or even Double once in a while. Other than that, the techs had been going over my data and frame strength, to see how a cyborg could be upgraded with the newest in technology. Double had been relegated to a more support role almost immediately, and had been taken out of our class early on. Gwen looked kinda thoughtful for a moment before he nodded in agreement and gave me a small smile. _Yup_. "Figures... Still, if they're sure that they worked the kinks out, I guess I'll be able to stay alive for a while in the combat tests today." I commented. Gwen smirked, and I couldn't help thinking that I really should just shut up once in a while.

"Don't worry, they'll give you a secondary weapon of some sort, I bet. Probably a magnetic rifle or something. I've used one in combat before, and believe me, they pack a wallop." she hinted, before slipping from the table and back to my door. "Anyway, good luck Arik. Hope to see ya in one piece after the tests are over. I've got a hundred zenny riding on the fact that you'll survive." she said as she gave me a smug grin. She reached the door and it opened automatically so she could walk through the open doorway. The door closed a few seconds afterwards, all without waiting for a response from me. I shrugged and pulled up the internal clock, and groaned a bit. _Damn, only a few more minutes before I should head out to the Wreck Center_, I saw. With a shrug, I walked out from my quarters and down the hall to the exit. _No need to waste time here when I could go and get outfitted early, right_?

But it was no more than a minute after I exited the lift that led outside that I found myself walking beside a humanoid reploid that I had never met before. The reploid looked as if it was a flagpole, from the way that it was walking stiffly. That, or it had just got off the assembly line with some sort of problem with the installation of it's legs, anyway. I found myself looking to the reploid after a moment, and then it turned to face me before I found myself wincing and looking away from a sudden burst of information flowing between us. The reploid continued walking, but I was forced to lean against the side of the nearby dorm building. One hand rested against it, palm against the duracrete as I gasped for air- not that I really needed it anymore, but there was a sudden pain in my head as my processes began to get scrambled. Priorities began to shift in my body, even as the document that had been sent to me opened itself. My mind had gone through a sudden thought process that would have chilled me to the bone if I was still in my human body, but instead my body went rigid as everything other than the document and my life support shut down. On the edge of panic, I was completely unaware of time as I forced myself to look it over.

**The letter**

To Mr. Silwat,

It has come to this organization's attention that you have joined the Maverick Hunters. We applaud your decision, for we feel that any human would do well in a reploid-based organization as that one. However, we believe that because the Maverick Hunters are a privately owned organization, that they are not funded as well as they should be, and are therefore possibly unable to respond effectively to all threats that may be upcoming. Thanks to two of their ranks, Sigma has been defeated, and we feel it is time to try and increase the numbers of humans in the ranks of the Maverick Hunters. Our organization has become aware of your possibilities, and we are willing to help you to succeed in your endeavors in this new capacity.

However, it is required that we obtain vital information that only the Maverick Hunters possess. Such as, any and all information regarding the Sigma virus that might be withheld from public knowledge. Any and all information regarding Unit 0 and Unit 17 leaders, Zero and X. In-depth analysis of the previous Maverick uprisings, including any and all records gained from Maverick Hunter X from the first uprising, as well as the second. Also regarding the X-hunter incident of the first uprising. This information is required to provide better response times and more effective and efficient reploids in the future.

We will be in contact with you within two weeks, at any random time. You will be unable to resist our programs, as we are capable of looking up your specifications and any alterations created to try and change your specs from what they are as of this moment. This document will self-delete within 10 seconds after you have read this. If at the future time you wish to join in our efforts to make the world safer by providing us with the information that we have requested, we shall be able to ensure your success in the future as well, in whatever capacity you wish.

**After the letter**

I groaned inwardly- it must be the GC, from what Dr.Cain had warned me of when I had first joined the Hunters. I could feel my body's hardware shutdown, the strange ambient noise finally shut off for the first time ever. Panic set in my head... my brain, really. I couldn't sense anything more. I couldn't see, couldn't feel, could hear, or do a thing. Time passed, blackness flowing through my mind as I felt myself fade. But, finally, there was warmth that displaced the cold that told me something was happening. There was that slight electric hum that I could usually sense, vaguely, in the back of my head. Information began to flow, and relief flooded me as I shivered again. A full shutdown- that had been something that I had forced out of my realm of possibilities, shortly after I had recieved my new body. That had been a forced restart of my system, just to get rid of... of that letter?

The diagnostics came on and sight came back to me. Then feeling, and there was the sense of being jostled about as someone held onto me. At first, my sight was fuzzy, and then it came back to me before I could begin panicking again. "Arik! Hey, Arik!" came a familiar voice. It wasn't Ayumi, or Gwen... and it certainly wasn't one of the Commanders I'd met in the past week. It was Double, and his face was filled with concern as I managed to focus on him. He was already armored, and wearing a bit of a ridiculous helmet- the kind that a punter in american football usually wore.

"Wha... where's that tall reploid?" I asked, moving to stand upright as soon as the diagnostics finished. No faults detected, but I was shaken up a bit thanks to the fact that I could've died if my body hadn't rebooted in time. "Dammit... Global Council..." I muttered, unaware of the fact that my arms had fallen to my sides during the whole process. Double was looking up at me, and then looked around as he obviously heard what I had asked. GC reploids were usually not allowed on base, but of course all of them were hidden and remained that way. Afterall, one can't infiltrate another organization unless they can hide within it. The Global Council consisted of just about every nation in the world that remained from before the 20XX years. Only Japan and China remained independant from the full reaches of the council.

"Arik, in case you haven't noticed... almost all the reploids around here are tall compared to me." the yellow reploid responded, to which I rolled my eyes and sighed. A good point, but sarcasm was something I didn't need at the moment to say the least. Quickly, I created a message and sent it off to Dr. Cain with priority on it, describing what had just happened. Double blinked, and I could guess that he had sensed the transmission- I'd heard that reploids that were navigators were capable of sensing that sorta thing. I stretched a bit, and nodded slightly before I realized the time hadn't changed at all since I had shut down to be forced to read that message.

"Dammit. Double, do you have the time?" I asked him, and was replied to with an answer that I truly didn't want to hear. I only had a few more minutes before the testing began on the recruits, but it was pretty likely that I'd be forced to wait my turn, since everything would be done alphabetically. Reploids rarely had more than a single name, but when it came to humans and cyborgs... Last name, then first name, just like normal. "Sorry Double, but I gotta go. That test is gonna start up soon." I told him, and then I took off running for the Wreck Center. I'd heard that anyone late was gonna get the difficulty rating increased compared to what it would've been on the default setting.

"Good luck!" he called after me, and I just waved as I continued to run.

**Wreck Center**

"Ayumi! Front and Center!" the gruff voice came, and the oldest member of the class came forward to face the red, dragon-like reploid who was standing just before the holographic training level. She wore a sky blue suit of armor, augmented in several places by additional thruster ports. She saluted the commanding officer before her- Magma Dragoon. He had recovered from the loss of his unit, and as such was now awaiting new troops to be placed under his command. The Dragoon had a personal interest in this batch, since these new recruits were the first batch to be trained since the second Maverick Uprising. Beside the Dragoon was his unit's Technical Supporter, his navigator in her pink armor. And Ayumi's friend, Alia. In the time since Ayumi had been reconstructed, she had been taught many things by Alia in her time away from Arik.

It was at that time that Arik managed to arrive, the boy's heavy boots coming to a halt beside the other members of his training squad. The Dragoon noticed this, but since he was busy with the blue armored reploid, did not bother to reprimand the cyborg instead. "Cadet, get ready for the simulation. The goal is to save as many humans as you can from mechaniloid attack while attempting to reach where the maverick general is attacking the population. Or maybe you'll be facing robots. Given your testing results, and the fact that this is randomized, the computer will send you a signal once your mission begins, and it will tell you what you will be facing. This will happen for all of you cadets, including those of you who were late in arriving here." the Dragoon stated, turning to glare at the cyborg.

Arik sighed at the obvious standing out that the Dragoon had made of him, but said nothing. It took Magma Dragoon to set the plan into motion for the quite literally reformed Ayumi, and then she was gone, teleported away in a haze of light blue into the air, and then down again into the building a second later. After setting up a link to the inside of the holographic testing room, the Dragoon turned and gazed at the remaining cadets before telling them to teleport away as well. One by one, they were gone, until that left Arik alone in the prep room with the dragon-like humanoid reploid. "Cadet Silwat, since there aren't enough test rooms, you may as well get comfortable. As soon as one becomes open within a few hours, it'll be your turn." he told the young cyborg.

**Waiting**

I stood in place, after the commander told me that I'd have to wait. I simply was kinda stunned by the way that the commander spoke to me, as if he was looking down on me. But then, I remembered that there was certainly a good reason for it. I wasn't a reploid. I was somewhere between human and reploid, after all, and as such certainly not near as powerful as he was. "However, before that..." he said, and the Dragoon turned to face the wall, where there was some sort of strange gauntlet on a table beside it. "That's the blaster that R&D wants you to use." he told me. I walked over to it, and lifted it off the tray. The gauntlet even had a hand on it, which was rather surprising to me. The other one I'd tried had no actual hand port, due to the extreme plasma heat that would be fired.

"Interesting..." I said quietly, though I was unaware that the Dragoon wasn't even paying any attention to me anymore. He was busy monitoring the progress of my fellow recruits, I could tell. Dragoon's breathing had lessened and he stood completely still- he wasn't even using his active sensors. I shrugged, and set the gauntlet down on the table that it had been on before. I took off my gray gauntlet easily, and I looked at the suit before shaking my head. _This thing needs a paint job_, I thought to myself. My entire armor suit was almost the standard steel gray color, though I did have it darkened a bit more. _I didn't like the idea of having it changed to whatever other color had been shown before. Pure black, red, blue... some god-awful yellow_?

The gauntlet was left the same dark gray that I had chosen to go with, and I flexed my hand as it came out from the gauntlet that I had been wearing. It took only a moment for me to slide the new one on, and the fingers of the special heat resistant gloves fit snug around each of my fingers in turn. The thing immediately registered in my systems, and the schematics came up to my sight as I pulled up the specs of the new gauntlet. It wasn't just one single buster, I found from the design. As I went over the design, I sent a signal to the buster to change mode from mobile to buster. My hand was swallowed by the extension of the gauntlet. From the middle portion extended a nozzle, but was strange was that I felt my hand seem to grip at a bar that grew from the sides of the inside of the gauntlet. With my fingers and thumb wrapped around it, a type of 'door' slid shut in front of my fist.

From around what used to be the opening that my hand had extended from came a trio of nozzles. These nozzles extended about four inches. The placement wasn't directly in the middle, but was actually to the sides- two alongside where my forearm was, and one on top of that pair. The design that I had pulled up in my mind showed that it was a rotary buster, something that actually alternated in energy expending. It was a unique design- within half a second, I could have three shots fired off, and it even allowed for a second level charge. That would be something to see, I could tell, and the memory chips of the gauntlet seemed to make a correct correction as I felt it shift and 'snap' into place on my arm. With that, diagnostics came online and potential energy expenditures came to mind, taking over from where the specification screens had been. I let the diagnostics come on and I felt a small sap of my power systems as it took a fair amount of energy to do the required test.

I stood still as it accessed my memory banks for history of energy expenditures, to the previous tests that I had taken before this to calculate the safe zone of energy usage. I turned the screens off but left the program to prompt me once the results had been obtained. This required a level of minute management that I knew not even reploids cared to worry about, so I wasn't too interested in it myself. I knew that due to the safety features of my reploid body would regulate the safety zones unless overriden for some reason, which I doubted that I'd have to do. Time seemed to go by quickly as the diagnostic worked it's magic- off to the bottom of my vision was a small bar that kept filling up slowly. It was less than a third of the way done when I finally looked to a clock on the wall and saw that an hour and a half had gone by already.

No one had returned yet, I noticed, though there were a number of reploids that were hooked into the viewing ports. They could watch any 'channel' of any of the rookies, I knew, and I figured that I was being considered the main event. No cyborg had passed Class C for posting before, and from what our previous test commander had told me, and that was a total of three tests. Starting at a Class E and working up towards the higher classes, I was going up a steep hill that I doubted anyone would think I would make too far up it. The diagnostic had finally almost finished after an in-depth analysis, and a moment later it had finished. The results posted for me, and I pulled up the stats for respectable, standard reploid buster design that had been issued to the other recruits. With beam sabers in short supply for any but officers, it was busters for all of us.

Six shots in a row, then a ten second recharge period would be required. That meant two full bursts! A second-level charge would require the same amount of time to charge enough power after before being able to charge up for the second level blast again, as well. A second level charge would take five seconds to be reached. Unlike most busters, this one only had memory for up to half a dozen different weapon types, and only of certain designs. Which made sense, given the limitations already stuck on the buster. No charge shots with alternate weapons either, which was something that I had hoped to utilize. But with the way that this delicate balance was being worked with, I knew I was lucky that the thing would work on a consistent basis. I pulled up another screen that had information on the types of weapons that I could access were- almost any projectiles, save for particle blasters and remote systems. Elemental weapons other than stones that were larger than 6-inches around. No homing weapons, it seemed, either.

The screens were closed and I looked over to the cadet line, to see that one of my fellow recruits had returned. It was one of the feline-like reploids, and he was standing beside a printout that was busy with processing his test results. That lag in my attack time is really going to slow me down, I considered. There was no way that a reploid wouldn't be able to take advantage of something like that. The blasts were weaker than a standard buster, but with the way that the shots and charged shot were more concentrated, at least I'd cause about 80 percent the damage that a normal Reploid could. With that information in mind, and the laughing of the entertained reploids behind me, I started changing the programming of the buster.

It was something that I'd learned how to do mechanically back in my parent's repair shop. We'd once in a while get a Maverick Hunter come in for some quick repairs, and my parents taught me how to tweak a damaged buster to the point where it was usable again... at a modified level, that is. I took the time to power down the weapon, and with a few switches in the weapon compartment, I turned it back on. I re-ran the diagnostics, and then grinned a bit as it finished up much faster this time. The firepower had been reduced to 65 pecent of a standard buster's, and it was a lot faster now, if I read it correctly.

"Cadet Silwat, front and center!" came the Dragoon's voice, and I powered back up completely before walking over to him. "Your testing room is the last one down the hall, on the right. Be ready the moment you step into the hologram room, kid. Your settings will be a little different when you enter the testing levels in that you will have more access to weapons other than your buster." he told me, and I saluted the reploid before he turned away. I turned and walked down that hallway at that. I could feel myself start to feel even more anxious than I had been before as I got closer to the door. The power generator that they'd fitted me with began to pump out energy at a faster rate, and I had to start breathing a bit more quickly in order to keep up with rise in temperature.

**To be Continued**...


End file.
